Not What It Seems

photo by author

By Sonya Oldwin

I have this compulsion to check my appearance. In bus doors. Car mirrors. Shop windows. Even puddles. The latter mainly to catch a glimpse of how passers-by perceive me. I don’t stop or anything. That’d be weird.

I’ve slowed down, though, for puddles. Difficult to pin it down, I’d have to go beyond a quick glance. And I don’t want to attract that kind of attention. I check in the first place to make sure I don’t stand out. But the more I look, the more I’m convinced puddles don’t show my reflection.

They show me from another dimension.