She was untarnished. Feisty. She wore clip-on ties, sweater vests, stark white Kabuki-style makeup, and fur. She was boisterous and bossy. Also, confident. She swore too much. She did not pander to the fifth-grade boys. She lived with a messy desk. She sucker-punched the neighbor girl. She loved horses and clean sheets. She listened to oldies. She wore geranium-red gym shoes and ran faster than anyone else. She was sly, and charming. Awkward and unabashed. Fluorescent.
She was so remarkably unafraid, so whole in her fearlessness.
