Our moms started allowing us to go to the mall by ourselves when we were twelve. To my best friend, Katie, and I, a trip to the mall unburdened by the embarrassing presence of adults was the pinnacle of young womanhood. After window shopping, we would eventually move to stores more accommodating to our meager allowances. More often than not we found ourselves in accessory stores, seeking whatever cheap trinkets caught our eye. One particular Saturday we set out to the mall with the goal of obtaining what every preteen girl recognized as the symbol of eternal sisterhood, the friendship bracelet. However, we failed to be dazzled by the ugly bracelets made of half broken hearts, instead settling upon two identical silver chained bracelets each containing one complete heart-shaped charm.
The bracelets were worn with unrelenting devotion for a week at most before they were replaced by new adornments. Time passed, and Katie and I grew steadily apart until, by eleventh grade, we met the same fate as our forgotten bracelets, not even acknowledging one another as we passed in the hallway.
I received academic scholarships and went to an out of state college while Katie stayed at home taking the occasional class at the local community college, bouncing between boyfriends and temporary employment. While on a return visit home one summer I spotted Katie working at the floral counter of a local grocery store. She looked up, and I was surprised to see a smile of recognition as she beckoned me toward her, asking how I was. Even more shocking than her acknowledgement was what ornamented her wrist. “Oh, this” she responded, jostling the sterling charm heart nonchalantly, “I found this in some of my stuff the other day. I have no idea where it came from.”
With this object I was first inclined to write something about romantic love, given the charm on the bracelet, but the more I studied the bracelet the more it reminded me of the jewelry I collected when I was younger and so grew the story about friendship.
ReplyDeleteNice job, Kasey. The opening presents some great opportunities for even more specificity. Rather than invoking multiple trips before the one trip, in a piece this short you could just describe the one trip, what they saw in the windows and how those items evoked a specific future for both of them. Because of length, the piece is going to struggle against "type," the familiar story we've all heard. But you help make it your version of that familiar story with unique details, unique challenges and goals for your characters. Nce ending, as well.
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