It was a day just like any other that summer. It was July, and the hot Arizona sun baked everything it touched. Susie woke early that morning, so she could get to the park and save a spot in the shade of one of the large Sumacs. She was meeting her friends, as she did most days of the week, and it would be the best place to keep cool. She slid into the skintight bell bottoms that she loved. They were faded, and the denim was worn just right. She put on her pale yellow eyelet halter top, and the brown suede vest with all the fringe that she bought at the thrift store. She couldn’t believe someone would give away such an amazing vest, but their loss was her gain. She brushed her long, dark brown hair. In her opinion, her hair was her best feature- it was very straight, and very shiny. And it reached down to her waist. People often said she reminded them of Cher. Susie liked that. It made her feel special when anyone pointed out her resemblance to the star she loved. And why shouldn’t she feel special?
Being compared to someone as breathtakingly beautiful as Cher was the only time Susie felt like she mattered. Her home was not a happy one. Her parents had divorced years before. She still remembered their fights. She remembers hiding under her bed with her three younger sisters, while their parents screamed obscenities at each other in their drunken rages. She remembers the sound of glass splintering into thousands of tiny shards, as she consoled the scared little girls under her bed. Of course, she was a little girl herself, but there was no one to console her, so she pretended that the fighting didn’t bother her. Susie was glad when her parents finally split up, but she was constantly shuttled back and forth between Arizona and California, and she was sick of it all. She was sick of her mom’s inability to be the warm, loving mother that Susie yearned to have. Susie was sure her mother hated her. Their interactions were always tense, and nothing Susie did was ever good enough. She wanted nothing to do with her stepfather. He seemed like an okay guy, but he wasn’t her father. Nobody would ever take her father’s place, and in Susie’s opinion, to accept her stepfather was to betray her father.
Susie managed to get out of the house that morning before anyone noticed, which was good, since she had swiped her mom’s last $3.00. It was early, and the day was already hot. The thermometer would easily reach into the hundreds by noon. But Susie looked cute, and she had a little bit of cash in her pocket now!
She arrived at the park, found the best spot to see people coming and going, and waited. After awhile her friends arrived, and they talked and laughed. Jim, the somewhat ugly guy who always hit on Susie, had his guitar with him, and he was softly strumming California Dreamin’. Susie didn’t like Jim at all, even though he made it clear how much he liked her. He was a local boy who wasn’t going anywhere, except to work at his dad’s furniture store. Susie yearned for adventure. She knew there was more out there besides the Arizona desert. Even where her dad lived, in the California central valley, lacked the excitement Susie wanted.
As the day wore on, more people got to the park, and brought their instruments with them. Susie’s friends were musical, but she wasn’t. Instead, she would dance and sway to the music. She used her long hair as an extension of her body. She always felt very sensual, and assumed others thought the same of her.
On this particular day, she caught the attention of someone new, and he took her breath away the moment he said, “Bonjour...”
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