Is The Body A Temple Or A Cage?

MUMMY

In the middle of reading the sentence “. . . down below the little girl was walking. . .” Phyllis thought ‘I’m sixteen. I haven’t grown in a long time. I’m not tall. Five three is not tall. And my cheeks. They’re still here. They said I was tall. They said my cheeks were baby fat and would go away. Oh, God!’ She went into the bathroom and examined her face in the mirror. Next she ran downstairs and confronted her mother in the kitchen.

“Mummy! I’ve stopped growing and I’m not tall. Plus, I think this is the face I have to keep.”

Her mother was washing dishes in the sink. “What’s the matter with your face?”

“It’s a generic face. It could be anywhere on the planet. And these cheeks! They’re huge. I’m not pretty. I want to be pretty!”

“You are pretty. You’re my beautiful daughter.” Mummy stopped washing dishes, patted Phyllis’s cheeks and kissed her forehead. “Oh dear. I am so sorry for getting dishwater suds on your face.”

FAUX COLLEGE FRIEND

“Congratulations on your marriage.”

“Thank you.”

Since you’re leaving the state and I’ll probably never see you again, do you mind if I tell you what I have often thought about your face?"

“Uh oh.”

“You've always looked like a frustrated chipmunk to me.”

HUSBAND

“Why should I tell you that you’re the most beautiful woman I have ever seen? You would know that wasn’t true. Why should I say something like that?”

“You know, you’re really pretty by candle light.”

POST-DIVORCE BOYFRIEND

“No! Don’t put that scarf on. It makes your face stand out.”

“What’s wrong with my face? Is something wrong with it?”

“No. No. Sorry. I don’t know what I was thinking. My brain’s rattled because I’m hungry. Sugar lag. Come on let’s get some breakfast.”

PLASTIC SURGEON

“So why are you here?”

“I don’t like my face and I want you to change it.”

“What’s wrong with it? I don’t see anything wrong with it.”

“It’s mostly the cheeks. I can’t stand them. I have a picture here of a face I like. I want you to make my face look like Morena Baccarin. Whatever it takes. Especially I want you to suck out these cheeks.”

“I don’t do that. There’s nothing wrong with your face and I am certainly not going to take a knife to it just because you don’t like it.”

“I think that, if I can pay you, you should just do whatever I want.”

"Oh, you do. Really? Okay. I’ve listened to you. Now you listen to me. What you want done to your face is only done in cases of gross deformity which is not true of you by even the wildest stretches of your own imagination. Now get out of my office!”

MOURNER

“Phyllis looks so natural. Your brother is a very talented mortician.”

“I know. And it was a tough job too. Her husband didn’t have any recent pictures because apparently she didn’t like being photographed. He did have several of her in her thirties and that’s what made the job difficult. She used to have fluffy cheeks, but by the time she died the cheeks were sunken in.”

“So those aren’t her real cheeks? Is it okay to touch them?”

“Sure.”

"Oh my God. They feel so real. How did your brother do that?”

“Silicone, wax, airbrushing, plastination, hard-case camouflage, and mineral makeup.”

“If only she could see herself, she would be so pleased and . . . grateful.”

“I know. It’s the least we could do.”

Copy right February 12, 2020