There's this girl in my class, let's call her Penelope.
Penelope had great toys, she would often bring her 48 dollar barbies in various clothes to school. At my time $48 is a shitload of money, my parents never would have bought me one so I had probably never asked for it. So, Penelope has this coveted toy, she also had fair porcelain skin and straight bangs that she would often use her saliva to flatten to perfection. She was this strange mix of perfect with questionable hygiene. Naturally I looked at her with curiosity and some disgust.
So when the time arose where I had the chance to rise beyond my $18 grey pound puppy, I probably did.
Now in my defense I have absolutely no recollection on what I did to the poor girl, I suspect it was that I said her doll was ugly or that my disdain at her fringe benefits were too apparent. What happened next was a tirade of her saying her father would come and give me a scolding.
For a while I was actually quite frightened. I wish I could say the same about my dad, but no, I knew that wasn't going to happen. So I waited. A day passed, and then another. My anxiety quelled and quietened like the flyaways of her fringe.
This memory of Penelope with her Barbie stayed with me for quite a while. Her father never showed up and I never talked about her Barbie again. If I do see her again in the streets, I would probably still remember her as the girl with the above history. It might be the thing about her that would stick with me forever. But you know what, she probably is a whole lot more to the people around her. And you know what, that's what I think about what happened last night. I may be a Penelope to some, but to other people I'm also a whole lot more. Thank you for showing me that I am more. :)