Phillipa has never experienced a shunning like this. For the first time in twenty years she can’t depend on old age to excuse her forthrightness. She is the pariah at the table. The woman with the fat pink fingers and an obsession with rings doesn’t compliment her stunning array of pearls and cocktail rings. Phillipa takes little comfort in the woman’s furtive inspection and otherwise blatant awe. Even Phillipa’s granddaughter Tamara addresses her with the absolute minimum required to avoid outright rudeness. Tamara refuses to speak about the faux pas, even in the confines of their cabin.
Phillipa insists as a native English speaker she is quite aware of the meaning of her words, it’s called an opinion and they are not always popular. She’s never been a popular girl. She doesn’t understand why her darling granddaughter is so obsessed with public opinion. She blames it on all the phone-typing and her parents calling her Tammy.
8 min in Queens, NY on 5.7.14
prompt lifted from an Ad in the May 1st edition of the Daily Mail
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