After School with Faye

My grandmother, Faye, taught me how to stand on my head.

She extinguished her cigarette, dismounted from her light blue swivel
recliner and squatted beside me in her living room one day after school. She showed me how to put my hands shoulder-width apart on her new Sears catalog rug and spread my fingers wide. Then placing the top of her head on the floor she kicked up her delicate, bony feet making herself perpendicular. My seven year old self was in utter awe. I had never seen her do anything spectacular and it almost made up for her just giving my snotty-nosed brother $0.50 for taking out the newspapers when the week before the same task earned me a quarter.

I practiced the rest of the afternoon. Several times Faye caught my feet in the air to help me balance but quickly I had it down pat. After counting 28 Mississippi's, the highest yet, I ran to her bedroom mirror to see how red my face had turned. Though proud of my beet colored cheeks her glamorous jewelry box caught my attention like a beauty queen in sequins. I modeled every ring and strand of pearls I could put my grubby little hands on before hearing, "Oh, you-hooooo."

My mom was home from work and I could not wait to share my new trick!