More and Less

Maydene's timing was perfect. Through the cloaked wall she came with Dumpling on one arm and Shine on the other. Shine let out a sound somewhere between High C and the echolocation of a dolphin. Caitlin was deep into knotting and stretching herself into a very tight-fitting body suit made of soft and pliable foil. Knee high boots and wings of quilted red fit with straps like a pack. She had pinned feathers of every color onto strips of ribbon. "Where will you put them?" Shine pointed to the strip of feathers and bounced in place gleeful with excitement and the prospect of new looks, and fun.

"I thought over the tops of my arms? Or maybe under. What do you think?" Without a second's wait the songstress said, "Both."

The view of the room was a soft water color to Dumpling. There was enough light to make out shades and shadows color but no definition. The grand lady was unaffected by the change in her eyes pallet choosing at this stage of the journey to flow with the excitement of the others. She was keen and experienced at syncing. "Just point me to a pile of goodies and I will feel my way to Wonderland." She was delighted to play dress-up. "Are you staying May?"

"I thought I'd stay for a little bit. The next carriage of company won't be here for another couple hours and Fairy has everything in hand for dinner. Let's start with some silk, and jewelry." The two women had a sketchy history over the past four decades. Only a handful of occasions had put them in the same place at the same time. Tonight May Short looked forward to being with the woman who had secured Stan Costa's heart. That man was an old family friend of Calypso's. There was history there.

Maydene threw herself into costuming as easily as she once coached mothers through the journey of delivering babies. She encouraged, but knew when to wait for the push. Dumpling felt the textures of yards of silk asking about color when she came upon pairs she especially enjoyed. Maydene or Shine claimed a length "Delicious! or let's try this one instead, Dumpling. Feel this." So caught up with Dumpling, May had not seen how Larkin had picked her way through the costume heaps collected and assembled season in and season out. When she finally looked up at Calypso's only granddaughter her hands dropped, silk shawls and strings of baubles fell to the carpeted floor.

"You have come to yourself," May Short was never without a lot to say. But now was not one of those usual times. Her voice was low and barely audible. A cherished child is loved unquestionably, and to be an Auntie whether blood-set or though bond made the love that much more ... enduring. Maydene committed to Care with a capital because it was a karmic debt being repaid in this passing through the swirl of time. She had that sight, she knew there were choices made in other lifetimes; choices that took life rather than deliver it. The silence between them stretched while all around them the excitement of costuming transformed the women with more layers, or adornment.

Larkin had chosen tonight to be her moment of shedding. "I can and have always been able to hear and sense the world with this tiny shell of an ear." The headdress of silver and second ear was gone tonight; it hung from a peg on the coat rack next to feather boas and shawls of wool and silk. A simple and stunning sheath of cotton the color of wet moss covered the young woman's body from shoulder to ankle. A vest of shaggy feathered rayon golden and brown at the same time with deeply cut sides lay easily against the wet moss sheath. The sleeves like butterfly wings stretched to her wrists. Larkin had never been without a cap, hat or scarf an unconscious action to cover the head band and customized ear shell which substituted for the missing earlobe.. "Never in shame did we create these accouterments," May stroked Larkin's cheek and fluffed at her hair now loose from a lifetime of subtle but no less confining head ware. Brown locks streaked with natural highlights of auburn brightened her.

"I never once felt ashamed," Larkin leaned into May's tiny palm and continued, "Eventually, there would be a time for me to grow a new sort of atunement. I have always felt that May. This morning when I woke I was with my Ma. I miss her all the time, even if I never got to see her ... in flesh. I know her in dreams. And Gran kept her alive for me. The Pine Needle Dancers connect me to them both. Without the dressing I believe the Dancers are opening their circle for me." Larkin lifted her arms and twirled. "Tonight I am a Pine Needle Dancer."