© 04.15, 2023, by Cupideros
There was a redheaded girl who loved reading literature and memorizing Shakespeare. Her talents got her good grades in school, which is mostly just memorizing information, then repeating it in written form on a test sheet. She did not have a boyfriend. Like most girls in those days, she played with dolls, jumping rope, and hide and seek. She wore a solid blue dress with a light-blue and yellow square motif design. This was the age before everything went inside a little jewelry box called a cell phone. Her allowance wasn’t much, $15 to be exact. But it was enough to satisfy her because once a week, she bought a new record album. Rock and Roll was her taste, although, once in a blue moon, she opted for a classical music album to round out her aesthetic musical choices. Well, she continued on this path and went inside the record store to buy a rock and roll album.
Now, in these days, vinyl records are sold. Large eight-inch vinyl records were black plastic discs with tiny music track lines going round and round in a circle. Of course, the music was so much better and more precise in those days, but on with the story. The girl bought her vinyl record, and as she headed out of the store, turned, and walked down the street, she bumped into an old black man rounding the alley corner.
She immediately apologized, “I’m sorry.”
“No. I’m sorry for bumping into you. I’m an old man and should have been more other aware someone might be coming to pass across this alley.”
“It’s okay,” said the young girl clutching the costly record album. Expensive for her allowance. She only had four dollars left now.
“No. I insist,” the old black man continued. ‘I’ll give you some wise advice now to make up for it.
1. As you take off the plastic, a new life will come upon you. It will be most jarring and hurtful in some sense, but you will get over it in time. You’ll feel completely different and new.
2. As you pull out the album, you’ll notice a white paper wrapper to protect the black vinyl. Do not discard or disrespect this, for a great many new experiences will happen at this unfolding.
3. Finally, you will reach the black vinyl record. You’ll put it on the turntable, carefully place the music needle down, and Wow WoW, music will begin the play.
“Old black man, you’re silly! For I know how to open a record album. I come to this record store to buy an album once a week. In fact, I’ve seventy-six albums so far; this one makes my seventy-seventh album.”
“But,” the old black man replied. “You’ve learned nothing, profound and deep in all your purchases. I’ve released the filtered hints that arrived from all your record album purchases.” He lightly tapped the young teen girl on her hand and said, “I must go now.” He moved beyond her, leaving the little girl astonished. She looked inside her tan store paper bag at the plastic-encased record album. When she turned to her right, the old black man had disappeared in the record store’s direction. Turning around to her left, where she would walk home, the old black man was nowhere to be found. The little redhead girl shrugged her small shoulders covered in the blue, light-blue, and yellow squares motif and went home.
At home, she sat down on her bed with a bounce. Then remembering what the old black man said, she reached for her record album. She pulled it out.
“What did the old black man say?” She focused as if she were taking a test. She recalled the moment precisely as it occurred. “1. As you take off the plastic, a new life will come upon you. It will be most jarring and hurtful in some sense, but you will get over it in time. You’ll feel completely different and new.” She shrugged and ripped off the clear plastic over the record album. Her fingers screeched as she dug into the plastic. Finally, she popped it loose. Every other part of the clear plastic went loose as she ripped off the rest of the clear plastic.
“Hmmm. I don’t feel any different.” The little redhead girl stood up because she felt something wet under her. Then, in shock, she noticed a pool of dark red blood. Glancing down at her modest knee-length blue skirt with light-blue and yellow squares, the little redhead girl noticed some blood. With some caution, she carefully put the album on her record player nearby in the corner. Then, swiftly, she turned her dress around and saw a big dark-red blood spot. “Mom!”
Her mom ran into the little girl’s room, and seeing the blood, she smiled and hugged her. You got your period! Her mom quickly reached over and grabbed several pink tissues from the tissue box on the nightstand. “Stuff these inside your vagina, hurry. Before the blood flows over your socks and shoes!”
The little redhead girl eagerly followed her mom’s instructions.
Her mom cried. “You’re a grown woman now. Things are serious. You cannot go around playing and do not sleep or have sex with any boys.”
“No, boys! I do not sleep with boys. I only play hide and seek.”
“Definitely, no more hide and seek, little lady. You stay right where everyone can see you,” her mom sternly warned her. “Now, I’ll show you my fertility products. You’ve started a life of fertility. You could get pregnant. But first, I need to show you where my tampons and pads are in the storage closet.”
The two women walked out of the little redhead girl’s bedroom into the hallway.
“Mom. I met this strange old black man, and he said a new life would come upon me.”
“That’s common sense. You’re a girl. All girls eventually get their periods.”
“No, but this old black man said that when I tore off the plastic of my record album, this new life would come upon me.”
Her mom stood in silence as they reached the storage closet.
“And he said, “It will be most jarring and hurtful in some sense, but you will get over it in time. You’ll feel completely different and new.”
“Well, that’s quite a coincidence. Your period will sometime hurt more in some months than others. It will be erratic and unpredictable at first, but then you’ll settle down to a somewhat steady time of the month.”
“The jarring and hurtful will stop?”
“Fortunately, no. You don’t want your period to stop as that means you will either be pregnant or that you can never have a baby!”
The little girl took the box of tampons and a colorful plastic bag of pads. “That some new and different life.”
“Ohhhhh, cheer up, you’re a woman now. Life will feel different. You’ll be more cautious and less likely to take big risks, but every girl goes through the same things. Eternal I has blessed us in this way so we can have babies. And babies grow up to become productive human beings. You see all the stuff in this house, around the house, in the neighborhood, city, and this country. People built all this. You’re playing a wonderful part in life’s grand concert, Melanie Gordon.”
The little redhead girl, Melanie, looked worried.
“What is it, Melanie? Come, let’s go in the bathroom before your Dad comes home from work.”
***
Melanie’s mom took off her black and red floral skirt. She lowered her panties to her ankles. She stepped out of them and propped one leg on the closed commode lid. “This is how you insert the tampon. Finding the right angle may be tricky, but you’ll get it. Then you just slide it right inside. This little string will help you retrieve the tampon. Her mom left the tampon inside and pulled out a pad. She pulled up her panties to her waist. Pads you put on the inside of your panties like so. And that’s it.”
“I have to wear both!”
“No.” Melanie’s mom laughed. “You wear one or the other. You’ll have to change either every two or four hours, depending on how much you bleed.”
“This is a new life. Every month!” Melanie said with an out-breath.
“That is if everything is normal. You do not want to have a baby before you get married, do you?”
“Heck no!”
Silence took over.
“I’m worried about the rest of the old black man’s cryptic message, though. “2. As you pull out the album, you’ll notice a white paper wrapper to protect the black vinyl. Do not discard or disrespect this, for a great many new experiences will happen at this unfolding.”
“Hmmm, Melanie’s mom thought silently for a few minutes. “Ah, that’s what I’ve been warning you about, young lady. Pregnancy! Do not discard or disrespect getting pregnant! You should be married before getting pregnant, Melanie!”
“Okay! Okay! I got it! Do not get pregnant before being married!”
“It’s hard to explain, but the black old man got it right. A great many new experiences will happen during your pregnancy. You’ll feel like never before. But, then, the old Melanie will disappear, and the new Melanie will surface, the Mom Melanie.”
“But not before the wife Melanie,” little redhead Melanie joked.
Melanie’s mom scowled at her. “Do–not–get–pregnant–before–getting–married!”
Melanie smile. “I was just playing!”
“There is no playing with pregnancy. You’re either fully pregnant or not pregnant at all.”
“All right!” A curious look fell on Melanie’s face. “I wonder why I couldn’t figure out what the old black man’s cryptic message meant?”
“Women are made like a new record album. You do not experience the other parts until you move through the prior experiences. Take three. ‘3. Finally, you will reach the black vinyl record. You’ll put it on the turntable, carefully place the music needle down, and Wow WoW, music will begin the play.’ That Melanie is you raising your child. Ohhhhhhh, I can’t tell you how wonderful and beautiful the experience was raising you from a tiny baby. Changing your dirty diaper–“
“I didn’t have any dirty diapers, Mom! Stop it!”
Melanie’s mom laughed.
Melanie laughed, too.
“You have developed into a wonderful human being, Melanie. All the troublesome experiences paired with the good experiences made it all an amazing journey. This day is just another one of those notes of music playing in my life. And one day, Melanie, you’ll have a piece of similar music playing in your life.”
Melanie turned to her mom, “I could use another hug now that I’m an experienced new potential woman who knows how and has used fertility products.”
“Ohhhhhhhh, sure, Melanie Dear. Here’s a nice warm hug.”
–THE END–
