"Incidental Clothing"

by Olga Hill


On a steamy Sunday in July of last year,
our family had a barbecue,
our three sons, ex-daughters-in-law, current daughters-in-law and seven grandchildren were in various parts of the yard or squeezing into our galley style kitchen trying to help out. I was in the living room soaking up air conditioning before I wheeled into the yard and parked under the big shade tree.

My grand daughter, Tiffany, who appears cool and aloof but actually is a shy teenager was sticking pretty close to me while the other kids were helping set-up tables or playing Frisbee. “What’s up Tiff?” I asked.  “Nothing much” she answered in an unconvincing way; with a bit more probing she produced a picture from her pocket, “Dad said this is you.”

The photo was dated 1968 when I still had my modeling figure; I was posing in grey velour hot pants, a coral-colored silk shirt and black patent leather granny boots. With nostalgia in my voice, I said “Yes, that’s me”.  By now the other kids were standing around us looking at the picture silently. “Don’t you guys think my clothes were pretty?” I was disappointed with their silence. And then 11 year old Chris spoke up, “Grandma, we never saw you standing.”

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