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Go Ask Alice

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Go Ask Alice

I’m just getting home from the gym. It’s a noisy Wednesday afternoon; the guy across the street will blow leaves for almost 2 hours.

Yesterday, if I thought of something to confess, I would do so today. When I was 15 years old, I stole a pair of red Jordache bikini underwear; not only was I too embarrassed to take them up to the counter and pay for them, but I had never stolen anything before. I walked into the dressing room, put them on and walked out of JCPenny. I think it’s the only thing I remember ever stealing.

Yesterday, Jason gave me the ‘bestess’ of surprises. He trekked over to Pasadena to get my computer fixed. Thank you so very mucho, now I don’t have to do out there myself and I can enjoy my day off. I felt so vey loved.

Yesterday morning while on the bus, a young black girl who was sitting up front and appeared to have a disability, had a big smile on her face that did not disappear. It reminded me of a girl named Alice who was also black; she was one of seven clients at a home for the developmentally disabled where I worked for 9 months while taking a break from college life. Alice was one of two clients who could see, as the others were blind or visually impaired. Her favorite thing to do was to go into the boy’s room and rip off the elastic band from their underwear, always with a clean swipe. We used to say that she would be a great inspector for Hanes Underwear; Inspector Alice, we called her.

Alice would sit at her favorite chair by the window and spend hours twirling and stretching the elastic band all the while laughing uncontrollably; it was her favorite thing in the world. She would laugh so hard sometimes, that I could not keep myself from laughing along with her. Sometimes I laughed until my stomach hurt; it was contagious. Even now, thinking about it makes me laugh at the silliness.

In between the stretching and twirling, she would pause and closely examine her hands as if seeing them for the first time; there was such intensity at the way she looked at them that I always wondered what she saw in them. But then she’d go back to stretching, twirling, and laughing. Though she sometimes drove me nuts, she brought me so much joy.

The piece here is titled “Alice on Acid Paints Her Nails Red.” Though it is not a resemblance to what she looked like, I thought of Alice while painting this piece. I’ve always wondered what she saw through her eyes that made her laugh so hard. What world was she in? I wish I could visit!

P.S. I have not bitten my fingernails for the past four days, I’m shooting for at least another 26 days with the hope of kicking the habit. Wish me luck.

If you find yourself with a smile on your face or laughing for no reason at all, it’s all good. Share the joy!