Two Alike Teens

I was sitting in the lobby reading a book waiting for J to finish her lesson. Across from me on the sofa sat two young girls. I find it hard to guess the age of children these days, thanks to precocious puberty. Dressed almost identically in tees and shorts out of a summer fashion catalog, chattering in an intonation so similar that it sounded like one voice rather than two - Tweedledee was Tweedledum except for one detail.

The girl on the right had remarkably long and slender legs - the kind that walk the ramp. Almost reading my thoughts a woman sitting next to me said to her "You should go to New York - that's the place for fashion models. I have a friend who has a friend who knows Bill Blass and Gloria Vanderbilt." I had intercepted an on-going conversation having just arrived at the scene. The girl talked about some of the try-outs she had been too. I saw now that her face was very pretty too and unlike her companion she was painfully aware of the fact.

I noticed the many dissimilarities that had escaped me at first glance. The other girl had the radiant freshness and innocence of early youth - unadorned by self-consciousness. She wore her hair tied back and no make-up. The wannabe fashion-model had a distinct coiffure that was very becoming of her as was her make-up. Where one sought the limelight, the other was more reticent. Not so alike after all.

I wondered where these girls would be ten years from now. One a glamour model and the other a suburban soccer mom ? That would be overly simplistic. J was done and we were ready to leave. I realized that I had not gone very far with my book. Now I would have to wait another week to get the time to catch up.