et si ne croi mie,
Friday, October 27, 2006
With another win by the grand old Cardinals the night before, there was promise of a potentially exciting game that very Friday night.
It was a Bing Crosby, five and dime store, silver screen sort of day – cold, gray, and rainy – just right.
Collette was reminded the day before of when she and Diana had their ears pierced for the very first time. They were permitted to do this for their thirteenth birthdays (and hardly a day before). (Very similar to the rule that they were both to wait until they were sixteen until they could wear make-up… but that was another story.)
And it came time for Diana’s turn to have her ears pierced, so Mrs. English, Mom, Diana, and Collette drove over to Chesterfield Mall one chilly November night and landed themselves in front of the Piercing Pagoda. The guy in charge of the little stand had Diana sit in a chair and studied her ears for a moment, holding a marker in one hand. Then he quickly marked an “x” on each earlobe and gave her a mirror to check his accuracy. Diana was unsure.
“Mom, what do you guys think? I don’t know.” Diana seemed a little nervous over the fellow’s precision.
The moms kind of just nodded at each other and decided that it looked good enough. So the guy proceeded, whipping out a piercing gun. Click. Click. And it was over. Two little diamond studs now replaced the “x” marks. Diana seemed to have survived the ordeal. There weren’t any visible tears in her eyes at least. She looked in the mirror and seemed satisfied while the same guy gave her a cleaning solution and told her how to use it. Although her ears did end up becoming infected despite her efforts.
It was a week or so later on the way to choir, that Collette had just climbed into the big blue van next to Diana. Something must have called Diana’s attention to her ears. She whipped out a mirror from her purse, very concerned.
“Oh no!” She exclaimed, glancing quickly from one ear to the next. “They’re uneven! Mom! Mom, you guys let him put them in all crooked! They’re not right!”
But it couldn’t have been all that bad, because nine years later, Diana still had the same piercings and Collette never heard her complain about them again.
Collette’s own experience was only slightly different. She was picked up for a surprise trip to the mall with Mrs. English, Mom, and Diana. A different mall this time on a different night and the crowds were bustling with Christmas activity. Collette felt rather shy by the time they arrived with strangers watching from the food court – maybe to see if she’d blubber after the fact. Collette was determined to deal with whatever pain the earring gun might inflict and took her seat.
“You want to hold the teddy bear?’ The guy asked her, holding out a friendly stuffed animal.
Collette felt like telling him, “Sir, I’m not five years old.”
But she only shook her head shyly and waited for the incision. Somehow the shake of her head must have been ignored, for just as the guy pulled out the gun, someone pushed the chubby teddy bear into her hands. And click, click. Her ears now also sported two diamond studs. She was surprised at the lack of pain and never experienced an infection of either ear. And as she recalled, all four ladies went over to the food court for cinnamon buns afterwards.