Sunglasses
written by: Phyllis Souza
Sixty-year-old Phyllis sits behind the wheel of her car in the parking lot of the multiplex cinema. Her eighty-year-old mother, Virginia, beside her.
Phyllis takes a pair of sunglasses out of her purse, “Would you like these Ray-Ban sunglasses? They’re too wide for me.”
Virginia tries them on. “What do you think?”
Phyllis tilts her head. “Hmmm, looks better on you.”
Virginia smiles. “I know and I’m prettier, too.”
“What did you say?” Phyllis lifts a brow.
Virginia waves a hand. “Oh, nothing.”
Phyllis glances at her mother. “You’ve got a long hair growing out of your chin.”
Virginia feels around fishing for the stray. “Where? I don’t feel any hair.”
“Oh.” Phyllis waves a hand. “I must have been mistaken.”
They stroll across the asphalt pavement and enter the air-conditioned theater.
“It’s dark in here,” Virginia says.
“Take off the sunglasses.”
“Humph! Suppose you want them back.”
“No, I gave them to you.”
After the show, Virginia puts the sunglasses back on. “How do I look?”
“Like a movie star.”
“Do you really think so?”
- A Woodpecker Song - August 20, 2024
- She - May 17, 2024
- Happy Thanksgiving - November 23, 2023
