He said that I am pretty

“He said that I am pretty,” she declared, removing her slippers, looking around grinning. The Family looked back, smiling, some of them as if humouring a whim; others, out of sheer habit. What they could see was a slip of a girl, hardly past five foot, painfully skinny, sallow skin and lanky hair. But prettiness was something in the mind, what the eyes could not see; what the mirror could not show. It was something someone else had said, or perhaps seen.

She looked happy and proud, preening slightly in the admiration of the unseen man.

“Er…” said the grandfather, “Why ever would a bank manager tell you that?” The grandmother chuckled, “Bank managers don’t just manage money you know.” Nothing however, would take that moment from her. She relived it and enjoyed the memory of the moment and the warm feeling inside.

Until the Angel visited. Angel was the Cousin from heaven, good natured, always smiling, but most of all, glowingly beautiful. But as far as she herself was concerned, Angel was the Cousin from hell. Seeing her brought home her own inadequacies in her own eyes. It was little she could prevent, running to the mirror for a furtive glimpse of her own image, her mind automatically comparing it to the visiting Angel, her tall 5’8” well proportioned body, glowing skin, lustrous hair and smiling face. Angel, it seemed, had good-natured-ness to her long list of God-given attributes.

It had been like this from childhood. When Angel walked into a room, the people and the room itself seemed to envelop her, warmly embracing her. Angel herself glowed in company, while she herself hugged the walls, watching the scene from outside. It had been this way and seemed to always continue to be this way.

So when the bank manager threw a compliment her way, she caught it as if to never let it go.

Until the Angel visited. Once again, the Family, the house, why even the sunshine, seemed to turn towards the Angel, lighting her from within. She herself skulked in the doorway of her room, leaning against a wall and looking at the scene from without. With sour eyes she watched the Angel as she said hello, joked with the family members and then asked, “Hey, where is Sunita?” All eyes searched then focussed on her leaning against the wall – and Angel strode forward to laughingly mock punch her. She closed here eyes – the comparison was unflattering.

Before the Angel reached her, she ran into her room and shut the door.