HAIRY

J was at her friend Nic’s place when she first noticed it. Nic was having a party at his apartment just off the Piazza Navona and she was there early to help with the food. J, Nic, and their friend Dick were in the tiny kitchen which was two steps up from the large living room. Nic was at the stove frying something, Dick was putting dips and olives and chips in bowls and J was laying cheeses on a platter. They were all drinking prosecco out of mismatched glasses, already slightly tipsy and telling absurd jokes. Well, the men were, she was just listening and smiling.

The kitchen was badly lit so Nic had set up what was really a desk lamp on a shelf near the stove which focussed a spotlight across the room. As she turned to the mini fridge to get more cheese, she happened to catch a glimpse of her profile silhouetted on the white wall, and was horrified to see what seemed to be fuzz on her chin. At first she thought that it was just a blurring of her shadow so, after glancing quickly at her friends to see that they were not looking, she moved a little closer to the wall to check, and as her outline became clearer the fuzz turned into distinct little strands of hair.

How could she have not noticed this before? She looked in the mirror several times a day. For a moment she was frozen and flushed with embarrassment, she turned her back on the wall and continued arranging the cheeses with shaking hands.

Nic left the kitchen to answer the door and there was a buzz of different voices in the living room. Then suddenly, right behind her, J heard a women’s voice. Hairy, hairy, it said. J turned stiffly to confront her abuser, only to see a blonde woman throw her arms around a dark man and before kissing him on the lips say, oh Harry.