It looked like a shrine. Or a joke, maybe. But someone - probably Little Mike, she thought, had
put a blonde Barbie doll, naked, inside a cellophaned box in the center of the card table. Dappled
sunlight flickered over the Barbie like spots from a disco ball. Little pods of dandelion fluff wafted
back and forth in the warm, soupy air. It was only a Barbie, Darlene told herself, but she felt
afraid of it. One of the men had put a crown of gold foil on top of the doll's frizzed yellow hair.
Darlene could see that the doll's crown was made from the foil drawn from a pack of cigarettes.
The doll's plastic body parts were grubby and stained. And Barbie's lack of nipples and the absence
of any belly-button on her wasp-like waist made her nudity seem obscene. One of the men had
even taken care to put a tiny pair of plastic pink high heels on the Barbie's peg feet. An eerie
collection of melted candles, wilted dandelions, dying green plants, and burned out sparklers
in various holders surrounded the doll on the table. And a pack of red and white playing cards lay
strewn around her as if the players had left in mid-game.
04 Sep 2008, 12:03 pm
you're a great writer
