Description: Eve waits with breathless anticipation for Julie to see the pictures that she submitted to the Miss Teenager contest. The dream that she has always wanted is interrupted by Pops taking a peek at the photos. Will his opinion of her shatter her high expectations of unanimous victory?
The Miss Teenager Pageant. PART 7.
This was it. The perfect time to hide in a hole somewhere deep in the forest and not come out for say fifteen years? Eve would have settled for her closet. It was closer and there was a lock on the door if need be.
But then, in the inner reaches of her heart, the dark, stormy clouds of doubt were shattered by one single ray of hope, the hope of a dream. This was still her dream. Miss Teenager!
She could almost smell the Prince Matchabelli Wind Song perfume on her skin as she strutted the cat-walk. She could almost feel the power of wearing Elizabeth Taylor’s chiffon and embroidered faille gown. They would call it Soiree A Rio, with an accent. It would make every other girl on that platform maliciously green with envy. After her unanimous victory, she would feel bad for Pops that the phone would be constantly ringing off the hook with offers for her to do motion pictures at every major and minor Hollywood studio!
The question was: how did her dream land in the hands of her conservative-minded older sister without so much as a “Hey, little sis, congratulations?”
Eve shivered at the thought that Julie had laid eyes on her photos. “Well… they are discreet just like I said, aren’t they?” Right hand and left hand joined forces to click each other’s fingernails.
Julie turned back to their father as he hobbled into Eve’s room. “Pop, take a look, will you?” She held up the photos for him to see.
Wait, Julie was showing Eve’s pictures to… their father?! This was more embarrassing than the time Rickie Sundance turned to her in Biology class and caught her dreamily staring at his tight bell-bottoms.
Eve held her breath.
Pops’ reply was a relief. “Very nice pictures, honey. Very nice.”
“And you, Julie,” Eve hesitated to ask, “what do you think?”
Julie held up an outdoor shot of Eve in a bikini with the background of a summer sky. “I don’t want to rush this, Eve,” Julie said. “It’s too important to all of us.”
So Eve would have to wait. Yes, and she would wait, but with expectations that were far greater than anything she had ever hoped for in her life.
