Another Short

DeConstructing The Smile

As Maria's brain was eased into consciousess by sunbeams fighting their way past the grime that probably held the windowpanes together, she rolled over and hung her head over the bed as her fingers grabbed for the pitiful, pitted basin on the floor... Up came a nasty mix of rum, wine and the gods knew what all else.  When she was empty, she wanted to hurl the mess against the wall, but that only meant she'd have to clean it up herself, so she set the basin softy down and eased over onto her back, butt-scooting away from the edge of the bed.

Maria had wandered into this inn after she had run away from her dull existence in the country.  Her family life was safe, secure and her elderly parents doted on her, but she was dying of boredom; or so she had thought.  So, she scribbled the few words she knew how to spell on a note and hitched a ride on a passing oxcart in the middle of a brilliantly beautiful day.  But she had exchanged one type of boredom for another; exchanged fresh, clean air and deliciously prepared food for fetidness and tasteless slop.

As she lay on the rough, stained and rumpled sheet, she replayed the previous years that had found what she thought would be freedom in her escape to the big city, become a prison, as she debased herself with the assistance of helpful city dwellers.  Five long years that had passed in the blink of an eye. 

But, oh, she had become very, very good at what she did.  Not only did she entertain the coarsest of men (and a few women), but she was often secreted into the bedrooms of highbrow customers, as well.  On this day, Maria chose to escape her present life, just as she had chosen when she left the farm.  She had a barely formed plan to travel to the other side of the country.  She knew that her newly formed wits would guide her forward...

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"Oh, look at that enigmatic smile on such a poised and sweet-looking young woman."  Maria, aka DaVinci's Mona Lisa, enjoys the joke she's playing, as she overhears this comment over and over.