"Powder her nose."
Flash Fiction à la Dorothy Parker
From out of the Men’s room, she peaked her head. It was dusk before the fireworks and the was no bathroom for Women on the floor. All this glass and nowhere to powder her nose. Of course, most office buildings were designed by men with you easy way off zipping them down and zipping them up. Woom bip bam thank you, ma’am. In the wild of this wilds modeled on New York, everything wrecked of having been designed for XY, not XX. It is a long road home to Kalamazoo where they took pride in their male-centric bias.
But what does she care? She was young, carefree, and could glory in the daytime. The very becomingness of her dress shows just a bit much of a bit muchness. And yet it lowered her spirits because no one had noticed instead the day belonged to her and her shapely dress and the eensy weensy sandals. It was as if everything was open for her when she opened her closet. Assez vif on steroids with tres rhytmé. Dis-gus-ting. She wishes she had that kind of wardrobe. How she could take the ‘darlings’ rather than her.
But no matter, it is The Game that matters, and she was down Love 15. So, get yourself a grip like a man, and go in there swinging. Unfortunately, she was out of brandy in her bottom drawer of her desk. Unsteady nerves would have to do.
She walked passed the desks each populated by men out of Hamlet, “To be or not to be.” Long and hard was their thought in unison. But it was her in their mind’s eyes. And she was tall, unlike moi who bore making up in vivacity for inches above the ground. Lolita by any other name.
Then she stopped at her desk.
“It is your turn to order food.”
She turned with a fake smile. “A banquet of crow?”
“And tell the janitorial staff to fix the door on the Ladies’ Room. Quickly. They will do it for you.”
“Yes, the little man just worships the ground I walk on. It’s broken again?”
“Yes.” She felt the keys to the washrooms jangle in her dress pocket. “Again.”
And there is a mess on the Ladies Room floor. And someone will have to supervise the staff to make sure it is done… well. 15 All.
Vif et agité.