Something About Shelley

 

 

Right before the start of the evening shift she stands across the storefront.  Its her daily ritual to pause and look up at the sign that adorns the store.

” ‘Free People,’ I love this store, but I’ve never been in it,” says Shelley. “The name just makes me happy. Ya know what I mean?”

Shelley always has a new hairdo: sometimes a pixie with a purple streak or other times a tight bob.

“Girl, they’re wigs…. it’s easy!” she says with a laugh as she pushes the trash bin.

Her smile is her make up. She always has it on. About her laugh, one can think of what it would be like to taste honey mixed with sugar.

“Hey, ya gotta job for me? Know of any thang?” asks smiling Shelley of those she’s come to trust while riding the elevator.

Those that get off wish they knew of something.

So Shelley comes and picks up the trash, straightens the office chairs so those same workers  return to find their space unexpectedly brand new and ready for a brand new day.

If you are there after working hours and she trusts you, then she’ll speak about her love life.

“I got this young boy, he’s like ‘I want to be with you, I think I can straighten myself up with you,’ ” says Shelley with wide eyes. ” I’m like, ‘whoa, whoa, hold on partnah. I’m workin’ on me, I don’t got time for fixin’ anyone else up. Ya know what I mean? ‘ ”

Like many, money is tight for Shelley. She used to go to “da club.”

“I had people make room for me. They’d just stand back and watch me move!” says Shelley with the pride of a Soul Train diva.

But Shelley no longer goes to the club. Instead, she stands in front of her house mirror and plays ’70s radio. She turns, moves her arms and feels sexy in front of the mirror.

“I got to keep circulatin’, keep it movin,’ ” she tells herself on a Saturday night.

Shelley has to wait. Last year her hip was removed and replaced. The funny thing is that one ever notices her limp.

Rather, we think of the fast-moving sun that we can’t fully see but still feel its rays.

 

 

 

 

Coco Chanel Teaches Me that Third Time’s the Charm

 

Janet Stock, a graduate in sociology but with a passion for history and the origins of beautiful things, has only been with the Chanel firm for three months. She’s originally from Michigan and followed her boyfriend to Philadelphia because she was in love. They are still together.

Right after lunch hour, the Macy’s cosmetic department in the historic Wanamaker buiding has a few stragglers.  Regardless, Janet Stock  stands by the Chanel counter, ready and with a mademoiselle smile.

“Coco believed that women deserved three chances. She even believed that there were three types of women inside every woman, ” said Stock.

Stock spoke to me about the origin of the fragrance Chance, perhaps my favorite parfum.  And because of this supposed psyche triptych, Chanel developed three fragrances each for our differing personas. They vary from the young sporty to the sultry, dignified dame.

This was news to me. The fact that there were different versions of the aroma and the idea that Coco thought every woman needed several opportunities. Sometimes I think that there is more than three of me and yes, I ask for millions of opportunities. Many times I don’t need to ask for those chances but it’s automatic, like I’m always doing something wrong and need another opportunity.

Fortunately, Coco was a believer in chance and even the top of the parfum bottle is designed in the form of a dice.

So in the middle of the department store I was reminded about that saying, “three time’s a charm.”  The possibility for renewals and pardons.  I thought about it in Spanish too, “la tercera es la vencida.”

So I smiled and bought Mademoiselle lipstick. My first Chanel lipstick. In the mirror I saw myself and my thin lips. In that moment they looked fully hopeful.

Stock comes over with a sample of Chance but it’s not the one I desire, the young sporty fragrance.  Instead I receive Chance, the original, the fragrance for the sultry dignified woman.  I looked at my watch, it was a week after my 37-year birthday and around the time of my birth.

I laughed. Chances one and two were fabulously unsuccessful but I have to permit myself a third chance from the persona I’ve wronged the most, myself.