Larissa stood naked in front of her bathroom mirror. She had heard the expression, "beauty is only skin deep," dozens of times, but she was beginning to doubt the validity of such a statement. She considered those who could usually be heard preaching this colloquialism. Often she saw sadness behind their eyes, insecurity in their posture, and envy in their actions. "If these people really believed what they were saying, why would they care what anyone else thought?" she whispered softly.
Larissa's gaze moved slowly from her asymmetric, blemished face; to her broad shoulders; to her smallish breasts; down to her boyish hips with no real waistline; and rested on her athletic thighs. She felt no particular emotion. "Just a means to an end," she thought, shrugging. She hung her wet towel, pulled on her pajamas, and went back to her room.
"Ah-ha,"she exclaimed, "if I use a recursive function to implement the sorting algorithm, it will cut the cpu cycles in half!" She ran to her bed and grabbed her laptop to redesign her last object class. Solving puzzles of deep complexity had always brought Larissa a sense of triumph. She completed testing her latest code changes and closed her laptop.
Her mind drifted back to the subject of beauty. Larissa had always felt most beautiful in her own mind when she was looking for the beauty in others. "There is real beauty in almost everyone," she thought. "The puzzle is figuring out where to look for it."
Use the word, deep adj \ˈdēp\, as in
3: difficult to penetrate or comprehend : recondite
Larissa's gaze moved slowly from her asymmetric, blemished face; to her broad shoulders; to her smallish breasts; down to her boyish hips with no real waistline; and rested on her athletic thighs. She felt no particular emotion. "Just a means to an end," she thought, shrugging. She hung her wet towel, pulled on her pajamas, and went back to her room.
"Ah-ha,"she exclaimed, "if I use a recursive function to implement the sorting algorithm, it will cut the cpu cycles in half!" She ran to her bed and grabbed her laptop to redesign her last object class. Solving puzzles of deep complexity had always brought Larissa a sense of triumph. She completed testing her latest code changes and closed her laptop.
Her mind drifted back to the subject of beauty. Larissa had always felt most beautiful in her own mind when she was looking for the beauty in others. "There is real beauty in almost everyone," she thought. "The puzzle is figuring out where to look for it."
Trifecta - Week Thirteen
Use the word, deep adj \ˈdēp\, as in
3: difficult to penetrate or comprehend : recondite
It's amazing how our subconscious keeps working on a problem when we're oblivious to it.
ReplyDeleteNicely put, booguloo. Thx!
DeleteI like the contrast between her clear discomfort with her body and her coming to terms with the places where she feels her beauty lies.
ReplyDeleteThank you! I love hearing this perspective. It's so interesting because I thought she was actually quite comfortable with her looks and her body, but didn't place a lot of emphasis on it. I love how everybody's right!
DeleteI'm reading along thinking this is my daughter; this is something she would do, that mindset of deep thinking and puzzle solving.
ReplyDeleteI like the ease of reading this piece--deceptively simple.
(Latitudes of a Day)
Thank you! That's funny, I wrote this with my daughter in mind. How I would like her to be when she gets to that awkward stage when you realize people are looking at you and formulating their own opinions, they may even be judging you favorably or harshly. I hope she will find her own truth and her own way through it.
DeleteI see this character as having a good sense of herself and of knowing that she is very smart, not only is she smart, she takes a great deal of pleasure in using her mind.
ReplyDeleteYes, I think she can't help but use her mind and get lost in problem solving. I think it is in her nature.
DeleteThanks, for your comment!
"There is real beauty in almost everyone," she thought. "The puzzle is figuring out where to look for it."
ReplyDeleteI really like this ending. It's a prompt in itself.
Thank you!
DeleteThanks for joining up again this week. This piece is very well constructed and beautifully written. I agree with Colombibueno, your last line is great. And maybe we will use it as a prompt one weekend... (with your permission, of course!)
ReplyDeleteHope you join us for the weekend challenge.
Sure, you are welcome to use it! I would be flattered. :o)
Delete