Two women from similar backgrounds find comfort in each other
October 31, 2022 | Story by Thai Bui | Illustration by Delia Sauer
Linda requested that her last name be excluded from this piece.
The last night of October was crisp and clear. Linda sauntered along the quiet road — her half-black, half-white synthetic wig shining under the soft yellow glow of the streetlamps. The cold breeze didn’t seem to bother her despite wearing only a short, black dress and satin gloves that reached her elbows. Her boyfriend beside her was even less fazed, shirtless and sporting a disheveled fake beard with a painted volleyball tucked under one arm. With her stilettos on, they were nearly the same height. With me next to them, they towered like giants.
To complete her makeshift Cruella de Vil costume, she wore bright blue eyeshadow and bold red lipstick—a daring combination on anyone, but she’s the type of conventionally beautiful that’s difficult to impair. If we hadn’t been friends for years, I’d be intimidated. Because we had, I admired her with slight envy. I walked a little slower and watched her bobbed hair sway in the breeze.
We came from similar backgrounds — impoverished immigrant families with problematic father figures — but she seemed to excel in every area I lacked. She was prettier, smarter, more athletic, more social and more self-assured. That’s how I saw her, at least. But sometimes a blemish surfaced that reminded me that she was, in fact, just as human and flawed under her disguise.
In a cramped half bathroom of a near-stranger’s apartment later that night, I would wipe her running mascara and readjust her wig back onto her tucked, dirty blonde hair. Our whispered secrets over the sink would be engulfed by the pounding of the raging party on the other side of the door. Blemishes would be unveiled in the sudden spirit of honesty. We would look at each other through teary eyes and embrace in a breath of relief. But this would only be the outcome born from a daring first step from one of us after the encouragement of one too many beverages.
The stroll through the dusk was only beginning. Noticing that I was no longer beside her, she turned around to see me shivering. Without hesitation, she walked toward me with a soft smile and cloaked my body in her arms. We walked on into the night.