The mirror again.
A necessary evil, though it ceased being kind years ago.
Jens once had had the gall to call her vain, a case of the pot and the kettle if ever there was one.
Jens, the preening peacock, crucified between his hairline and his waistline.
She leaned in, concentrated on drawing a tight line around her lips with the special lipstick that wouldn’t bleed into the creases which had seemed to appear overnight.
Satisfied, she stood back and flicked off the mirror light.
Backlit in the doorway, she smiled at her trim silhouette.
I look young.
Aging isn’t pretty, especially for the vain. But when the mirror ceases to be kind, posing yourself as backlit in a doorway is a good strategy.
I had to look up the Latin phrase, but it was worth it to see how well it fits. Bonus: I found a huge list of Latin phrases for any occasion on Wikipedia!
Dear Josh,
Ouch! This hit me where I live. I’m turning my lights down low. Nicely done.
Shalom,
Rochelle
I hope no one shatters her belief – thankfully the mirror cannot speak…
Backlighting hides a multitude of things you’d rather not see. Let’s just hope she doesn’t have one of those magnifying mirrors – that would finish her off for good.
The picture works here as part of the story, a counterpoint to the speech
How cruel it is that we get to watch ourselves deteriorate daily.
Well, as long as she feels pretty (seems she equate beauty with youth), who’s to tell her otherwise. … Personally, I find it sad that people don’t see the beauty of years’ wisdom. Age is earned. Nothing wrong with it showing. No?
I just saw an ad for lipstick that’s not supposed to leak into the cracks :) I was tempted until I saw the price. Oh well.
Really liked your story :)
Oops! Been there, done that…
You’ve made an interesting choice of title. Were you intending to imply a dissonance between a person’s education and their lack of wisdom and self-knowledge?
More like action follows thought. Thank you for your comments.
Here I was thinking of Maleficent… using the blood of others to keep her young!
love this, paging isn’t pretty, I should know I’m in the thick of it!
Ah, the vain attempts to keep on looking younger – I know that battle! Loved the line about the hairline and waistline, marvellous.
What is life but veils of illusion of one sort or another. If this one gives her peace, more power to her!
A moment that captured all of us. Well done.