transient beauty
A memory drifted across the woman's mind as she looked into the eyes of a little girl.
Slowly shadows wrapped around another girl, layer upon layer of shadows. In some places this caused the shadows to be darker, in others the shadows remained curiously light. Slowly her form grew taller, and slimmer, and fairer. Tiny wings sprouted from her back, and she fluttered them in a weak effort to rise off the floor. It didn't work...she was forced to settle back onto the ground until her wings grew bigger. Strengthening, the shadows took on a fairy-like form.
Becoming solid and real, the shadows added more layers now. A beautiful evening gown covered the new form, and the fairy twisted from side to side experimentally, watching the bottom swish a little. With a frown, the shadows that made up the evening gown swirled around her and now she wore a ball gown instead of an evening gown.
In the fairy's ears, beautiful pearl earrings sat like fat, content cats. A pearl chocker made of shadows joined the earrings, and a simple pearl and gold ring sat on the fairies right ring finger. A fairy man stepped out of the shadows, detaching from them as though he was one of them himself. He bowed to the little fairy girl, and gently took her hand and kissed it. She smiled gently at him, and he opened his mouth to bid her greetings. Soon, but not to soon, he would bid her come with him to his land where all was shadows and light.
"Mom?! Have you seen my earrings? I can't be late for my date!" Someone cried.
"No. Ask your sister. You know how she likes to borrow your things." An older woman's voice replied. The shadows fled as a young teenage girl stuck her head into the room.
"Lainey! What have I told you about taking my stuff?!" Demanded the angry teenage girl. The little girl, Lainey, cried as her older sister practically ripped the earrings from her little sisters ears. They may have been clip-ons, the only type their mother allowed, but it still hurt!
Looking down into the eyes of another sad little girl whose shadows had been ripped away, Lainey pondered on the transient beauty of imagination. It was much like the transient phase of childhood. There one moment, gone the next. Lainey scooped her little daughter up into her arms and held her close.
"Your sister doesn't like it when you borrow her things without asking. Why don't we play pretend in my room instead? I have this wonderful set of pearl earrings my sister gave me when she moved out...." Lainey suggested, and the little girl looked at her mother with big, dark, wondering brown eyes.
For a moment, the little girl thought she'd seen a fairy princess where her mother stood, but the image was gone as quickly as it had come and the little girl raced to her mothers room to try on the earrings. Watching the child run off, Lainey thought "Chlidhood is a transient sort of beauty...because we have to grow up someday. Whether we want to or not." Yes, Lainey knew it all to well. The real world awaited even her daughter. But that was a thought for tomorrow. For now, she had a daughter to help.