Colorblind
Page 13
Lisa looked over at the new plaid jumper and navy blouse that her mother had selected for her to wear today. Lisa got out of bed and began getting dressed. When she put on her padded bra, she noticed that it was tight. Her breasts had begun to grow, and they peeked out of her padded cups.
“I’m going to need a bigger bra soon,” thought Lisa.
She then put on her blouse and jumper and looked at herself in her full-length mirror.
“Not bad,” she thought as she started brushing her soft blonde hair. She pulled her bangs to one side and secured them with a tortoiseshell barrette.
Today was also a special day for Lisa. She would get to wear makeup for the first time. She had bought the Maybelline “Blooming Colors” eye shadow set for blue eyes, and she began applying light blue eye shadow to her upper eyelids. She then applied light pink eye shadow as an accent under her eyebrows. She learned this technique from the Maybelline ad in her Seventeen magazine.
She then applied brown Yardley mascara to her eyelashes. It was hard to put on mascara for the first time. She would have to practice. She then put pink powdered blush on her cheeks, and she used her pinky finger to remove pink Yardley lip gloss from its tiny pot and apply it to her lips. Lisa’s two blue eyes peeked out through her new makeup.
On the other side of town, Miss Loomis awoke, and anxious thoughts immediately flooded her brain. It was the first day of Head Start, and she felt like she was going to throw up. Then she thought of Lisa and smiled.
“Please, God,” prayed Miss Loomis, “give Lisa a great first day at school, and let there be no mean boys.”
She looked over at the new dress that she had selected to wear today. It was canary yellow with black piping. Miss Loomis got out of bed and began getting dressed. When she put on her padded bra, she noticed that it was loose.
“I’m going to need a smaller bra soon,” thought Miss Loomis.
She then put on the new dress and looked at herself in her chifferobe mirror.
“Not bad,” she thought as she put her wiry white hair into a bun. She noticed that her hair was thinning even more and that there were more bald patches on her scalp. Two brown eyes peeked out from her thick white glasses.
And so the first day of school began. Lisa was growing while Miss Loomis was getting smaller. Lisa had graduated to the seventh grade while Miss Loomis was now teaching preschool. Lisa seemed to be going forward while Miss Loomis seemed to be going backward. Lisa no longer counted on Miss Loomis to make it through the school day. Reverend Reed no longer counted on Miss Loomis to help with the movement.
Miss Loomis was fast becoming her Macy’s Thanksgiving Day balloon. The bullying and the movement exacted a heavy toll on Miss Loomis. She died on Halloween after being at Head Start for only two months. Like the helium of her balloon, her spirit rose to the promised land, and, like the shell of her balloon, her frail body fell to the earth. She was free at last.
In many ways Lisa grew from a child to a woman on the day that Miss Loomis had died. She had exposed her wounds to the world. She had survived the teasing on the playground. She had understood what a Negro teacher and a white girl with a cleft palate and cleft lip have in common. Lisa would never forget Miss Loomis.
That night Lisa dreamed of the Little White House of the Confederacy once again—yet things were oh-so-different in this dream. Now, there were no white crosses and servants’ uniforms. Instead Lisa and Miss Loomis were dressed in their Sunday finery and were seated at the dining room table. Lisa no longer had cleft palate and cleft lip. Also seated at the table were Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Senator Bobby Kennedy. Governor Wallace was serving them slices of Miss Loomis’s devil’s food cake. Lisa noticed that the chocolate cake was so dark that it peeked through a veneer of thin white icing. Suddenly, Dr. King, Sen. Kennedy, and Miss Loomis turned into white doves. The doves began pecking at the window trying to get out. Lisa opened the window, and the three white doves flew outside.
Lisa awoke from her dream, touched her scars, and smiled. She could not wait for the morning.
Acknowledgments
To my sixth-grade English teacher, who taught me to be brave in the face of adversity; to Gloria Steinem, who taught me that law can be connected to justice; to the late Dr. Anthony Marzoni, who gave me a face; to my mother, Frances Lyles Harper, who taught me to speak; to my late father, Henry Johnson Harper, who taught me to love books; to my brothers, Henry Harper, Jr., and John Harper, and my sister, Millicent Harper Veltman, who taught me to love; to my friends Ruthie Rittenour Nesbitt, Ellie Scott Kirby, Betsy Garber, and Chris Dozier Thomas, who taught me how to be a friend; and last but not least to Debra and Mark Meehl, who taught me to believe in myself.
About the Author
photo credit: Debra Meehl
Leah Harper Bowron is a lawyer and James Joyce scholar. Her article “Coming of Age in Alabama: Ex parte Devine Abolishes the Tender Years Presumption” was published in the Alabama Law Review. She recently lectured on Joyce’s novel Ulysses at the University of London and the Universite de Reims, and she is currently writing a book on a code that permeates the writings of James Joyce. She lives in Texas and has a daughter named Sarah and a cat named Jamie.
SELECTED TITLES FROM SPARKPRESS
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