Exotic

Exotic, they all had said. Dark hair, dark eyes, pouty lips, mysterious was how they described her. She wanted to be like them.. She wanted to be blonde with long straight hair. Hers was wild and out of control. She wanted their fair skin, blue eyes, to be an all American girl. She was olive skinned, her eyes were deep and dark as the night and for years she had no idea that she had been more beautiful than all the girls that she had wanted to be just like.
One night, one moonless night she slipped into the woods and found there a small band of traveling gypsies. The women looked like her, but they were dressed in beautifully colored skirts that flowed and moved as they did. The men were swarthy and reminded her of pirate tales she had heard as a child. She came upon them quietly and as she watched them dancing in the fire light she knew this was where she belonged. She came closer to the fire, its light dancing in her eyes.
For the first time she felt as though she belonged. Exotic was beautiful. Dark and mysterious were exqiuisite. They welcomed her and she laughed with them and danced with them until late into the night. She fell asleep listening to their stories.
The next morning she awoke in her own bed. Was it just a dream, she wondered? But then she looked in the mirror and saw the firelight dancing in her eyes. It revealed to her secrets she didn’t know before and when she arrived at work that morning no one could deny that she was something so much more than what she had always thought she wanted to be.