Jazzed by Jill Dearman

Author:Jill Dearman [Dearman, Jill]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Vine Leaves Press
Published: 2022-07-04T22:00:00+00:00

A month later, in the dorm room Will sat alone before the mirror. After making sure the door was locked, Will placed the small, round mirror on her desk and tipped the glass upwards till she had the right view. She gazed at the picture of Douglas Fairbanks and used it as a model for her mustache. Once glued on straight, she took a pair of small scissors from the barber’s kit and trimmed it.

The color looked a little too chestnutty. The mascara brush helped to darken it up a bit to match Will’s hair. She spread a bit of charcoal on her forehead and rubbed it in, penciling a few creases to add age. She did the same under her eyes. She used a fine helping of Brilliantine to comb her hair into a slick patent-leather style. She combed down the head and angled to the back of the crown, creating a distinctive part that made her look rather handsome. Dolly had been gradually trimming Will’s hair, so the shorter length did not appear shocking. Her eyebrows needed bushiness, so she rubbed them a bit to make them appear a little lived in. Yet something was missing.

Will looked at a picture of Dolly’s family hung above her bedside table. Mr. Raab’s complexion was too fair. She found no inspiration there. Her own father was too old and deeply Semitic-looking to use as a model for the kind of man she wanted to be. She picked up a bunch of Dolly’s screen magazines and flipped through them. Most of the movie stars were too dapper. Will wished to fade into the crowd, so as to avoid capture. But she wanted something distinctive that strangers could focus on without realizing it. An article about John Barrymore which included photographs of his portrayal of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde caught her attention.

It used the opening quote of the picture.

“In each of us two natures are at war—the good and the evil. All our lives, the fight goes on between them, and one of them must conquer, but in our hands lies the power to choose, what we want most to be, we are.”

In top hat and tailored waistcoat as Jekyll, Barrymore looked elegant, dashing. But his hair grows and he takes on a savage appearance as he transforms into Hyde. His smile becomes that of a lecherous drunkard. It was compelling to stare at, but Will did not want to make such a disturbing impression. Hyde’s face contained a deep crease between the eyebrows, and Will thought that she might be able to capture a subtle variation of this look with a bit of eyebrow pencil.

She slipped into the men’s trousers, button-down shirt, suit jacket, and tie from Raab’s. Lacing up the black wingtips, she felt a surge of energy. Will walked around the room, swinging her pocket watch carelessly knowing time was as much a man-made construct as gender. She took a gander of herself in the mirror. Her portrayal of a man was quite convincing.

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