RemembeRED: Costume

Prompt: reach back to a costume that made an impression. This is late because I am sickly today. For the record, I hate being sickly.

My mother helped me pull her short, bright red, mini over my head and over her bra stuffed with tissues. She zipped it up over the white blouse that she made me put on underneath, because it was October in Germany, and cold. I think the skirt of the mini came to my knees; I was too distracted by my fake chest and the idea that I would someday have breasts that size. Black high heels, impossibly tall to my eyes, were waiting next to the door when we were finished.

Then came one of my mother's short black wigs, held firmly in place with hairpins that my mother seemed to be trying to jab into my skull. Wigs were expensive, and for my mother to allow me to wear one of hers was a very big deal indeed. My mom would have stapled the wig to my head if it had been possible, so it wouldn't accidentally fall off.

Makeup was next. My mother dabbed a coral rouge on my cheeks in an exaggerated circling motion. Next came the frosty sky blue eye shadow from eyelash to eye brows, followed by liquid kohl eyeliner and mascara. My mother smeared my mouth with bright red lipstick, and I was ready to hit the streets in the costume of a 'streetwalker'.

I had NO idea what the heck a 'streetwalker' was at the time. I was just happy that, for a precious few moments, I had my mother all to myself. I proudly walked out into the living room to show off my costume before my brother the Rabbit and I went out into the night.