The Lil Pink Dress

Amelia or Lia as her friends called her put on the her little pink frock in the morning. Doing up her pigtails, she smiled brightly. Today was going to be fun at school. It was a national holiday and her friend Nana was to help her with homework. She didn’t mind that she had worn the same frock every school function. It was her favorite , and the fluffy pink frill could turn up stiff around her ,and she felt like a tulip in the first days of spring. Mom and Dad didn’t buy her a lot of clothes , but when they did it was just perfect. Nana’s parents were always giving her a new dress for every event. But Lia didn’t mind, as she had her favorite tulip dress on.

As she entered her class eagerly awaiting Nana, she looked around and smiled at her teacher. She wanted to be the one closest to the mike when they sang their class song, but she knew , Nana and her being the tallest, would never get close enough.But with her friend close to her she didn't mind being in last row. As she quietly hummed it in her head, trying not to forget a word, she bumped into Nana. Nana was looking pretty in her little red dress. “It is new” she whispered, “My daddy got it from abroad" .Abroad was a term used by them, every time Nana’s father went out of town for work. As Lia marveled at Nana’s new dress, Nana’s looked at her disparagingly. It was then that the teacher asked them to come together on stage to sing. As the girls started coming together in a line Nana turned to Lia and said “You are wearing your dirty pink dress again , don’t your parent buy you anything new?”

Lia’s beautiful world suddenly had a crack in it. She stepped back, turned around and ran to an empty classroom. She missed the function, the balloons and the smiles. As she came back to the group Nana simply walked away from Lia in little pretty red dress. They never spoke again, there was nothing much to say.

Twenty years later, Lia a successful architect now walked into her parents garage, trying to put down the hundredth pile of books her mother packed away. Her gaze suddenly stopped on a suitcase. Opening it up, in the rummage she found her mothers forgotten dresses, her fathers outdated trousers and the most precious of all her little pink dress. As she clutched it hard in her hands, tears poured from her eyes. Nana’s remarks had been those of a child, but the effect had carried Lia to adulthood. She had worked harder after that day at school, then college and finally at work, so that no one child or adult would ever whisper those words to her again. That comment had changed her life from something beautiful to the hard reality of the world. She didn’t know if she was thankful or filled with regret about that day, but one thing she was sure, she still loved her little pink dress. Wiping away her tears, she picked up h her little pink dress as she was sure, her daughter would make a lovely tulip.