excerpt from my novel... 01-01-08.
She sat quietly on one side of the gathering, at the end of the food laden table. Her mother stood by her left, dishing out kebabs and kafta onto a small paper plate, and her dad sat by her right, blissfully absorbed in clearing away the contents of his plate. It was a chilly night, but the heat from the roasting ram made the shawl she was carrying unnecessary. It was gone eleven, and beside the garden in the huge driveway, the boys were having what they called a fireworks war; two warring teams lobbing fireworks at each other.
Smilingly, she watched them, wishing that she had chosen to wear something a little more casual so that she could have joined them. She would feel ridiculous running around with them in the chocolate satin pencil dress that she had chosen to wear.
It was strapless, and clung to her jutting bones as tightly has her own skin would; she had specified that she wanted it that way a few months back when she sketched the design for the tailor who had sewn it. She had worn it with gold stiletto sandals, and couldn’t decide whether falling flat on her face would be more embarrassing than the dress ripping in half. That she would be turning sixteen in seven days in no way changed the fact that she had the body of an awkward, and very tall, eleven year old, and was the prime cause for her taste in clothes far more mature and racy than was common amongst her peers.
She had good features, she knew, a smiling, open mouth, bright, speaking eyes and fair olive skin, but she would never delude herself with notions of beauty or grace; attributes that she tried to compensate for with an excess of personality and what she hoped was intelligence.
Turning back to the table, she meekly took the plate that her mother handed her, full of extra portions as usual.. The night was so festive that she didn’t feel she had the courage to spoil it, with protestations or futile arguments; her mother knew as well as she that her weight problem was not as a result of her diet. Picking at her food, she listened with a half ear to the joke that was being told, and allowed her mind to wander.