It was all
Nancy LaChance’s fault. It wasn’t good enough that
she was already the most popular girl in school, with perfect grades, perfect
teeth and the blondest hair you’d ever see. It didn't help that
As young women of St. Mary’s Catholic school in the small town of
I always thought I looked pretty in my skirts, at least mother and father told
me that all the time. My boyfriend, Charley Dickens, whose father owned the
only bookstore in town, always called me his genuine Southern Belle, much to my
delight. We planned to get married when we finished high school – which was why
I had allowed him to take a peek at my ankle and shin…and nothing else.
So you see, for Nancy LaChance to come sauntering
into school on that Monday morning, wearing that skirt – a pleated dark blue
number – sent ripples and shockwaves around the school and indeed the whole
town. How could her parents let her out of the house like that?! We were
shocked and appalled. We snickered behind her back and called her names that
would have made our parents blush in shame.
But most of all, we were envious.
Oh, how comfortable and carefree she looked. Her legs were long, shapely and
pale like porcelain and as she walked, the skirt would swish against her hips
with a soft whisper, a subtle and seductive movement that had everyone unable
to look away.
Oh, how we envied the looks she received from the boys, and even the men; those
hungry, leering males, who salivated like starving dogs as she walked past,
leaving a lingering scent of roses and unspoken promises hidden beneath that
cloth.
It was sinful. It was terrible, we told ourselves and yet we felt dowdy and old
in skirts we once thought beautiful and proper. Oh, how we wished we could be
as daring as Nancy LaChance, and yet we knew we could
never be as brazen as the girl from the North.
However,
It was all we could talk about. How humiliating. How disgusting. How slutty. We tried to ignore the pained looks of longing in
the males’ eyes, the sharp scent of need, lust and desire that roiled off their
bodies in waves as they eyed our long, drab skirts. Suddenly the day which had
started out like any other, had become bleak and miserable.
We went home with smiles on our faces – false fronts of gaiety and excitement –
but our hearts were beginning to cry out in rebellion. What would it feel like
to be Nancy LaChance for just one day? For a minute? For a second? How
would it feel to have the boys’ eyes on our exposed flesh, to walk without
fear, to taste freedom?
I stood before the mirror in my room, dressed in nothing but St. Mary’s school
uniform and biting my lower lip gently; I began to hitch the cloth up. Higher
and higher, inch by inch, I slowly revealed legs which had remained hidden from
the public eye for as long as I could remember. My heart began to beat faster
and harder in exhilaration, in fear, in knowledge. My tongue felt heavy and dry
– a sour taste of my sweat or perhaps the freedom that I had always longed for.
If
There was nothing to be ashamed of. Why did I need to hide a part of me that
God had so lovingly created? Why did I have to remain trapped in a prison that
society had created by forcing me to dress in an outfit that supposedly
celebrated my womanhood? I wasn't made to remain hidden behind layers of cloth.
I longed to be free as well. I longed to be able to smile like Nancy LaChance – that triumphant smile of victory that filled her
visage as she was taken away.
My freedom finally came in the sounds of cloth being ripped.
Freedom came in trembling hands and fingers sewing into the wee hours of
morning.
Freedom came in leaving the house earlier than anyone else, to escape the cold
disapproving stares of authority.
Most importantly, freedom came from walking into school and seeing my female
classmates with skirts - ripped or sewn - all exposing legs and knees which
were no longer hidden behind the oppressing shield of society’s rules.
And when Nancy LaChance walked in wearing a long,
formal skirt, her expression was one of
surprise and yet undeniable pride as she looked at all of us. We laughed
together, knowing
we had defied the authorities with one simple but powerful act of rebellion.