Music From Another World: One of the most empowering books for women, bestselling author Robin Talley’s gripping new 2020 novel by Robin Talley

Author:Robin Talley [Talley, Robin]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2020-03-30T18:30:00+00:00

Tuesday, May 23, 1978

Dear Sharon,

You’ll probably think this is corny, but…I made Carolyn a collage. I know, I know, you said I should let her make the next move and you’re probably right, but I’m tired of waiting.

I’ll give it to her on Saturday, at prom. I know that’s even cornier, but, well, we’re both going to this stupid dance with boys we don’t like. We might as well have something special to remember about it years from now.

I didn’t have any photos of her to use in the collage, not unless I cut up one of my old school yearbooks, so I drew the background myself. I wanted to keep it simple, so I used a regular lead pencil and sketched a picture of us the night we first kissed. I didn’t draw the actual kissing part, obviously—I’m not stupid enough to put that down on paper—but I drew us lying by the water, with Carolyn perched on her elbow and me staring up at her. I’m mostly out of the frame, since it’s really a picture of Carolyn as I remember her that night. All light and warmth in the darkness.

In the front of the drawing, I glued the words I’d cut out of my mom’s old issues of Life: TWO OF US AGAINST THE WORLD.

On the back I wrote, “You’re the only one for me.”

I hope she’ll like it. The drawing doesn’t do her justice, though. She has red hair that she’s always complaining about because it frizzes sometimes, but whenever we’re close, all I can see is how alive her hair looks. There’s no way you’d ever mistake her for anyone else.

Meanwhile, my hair is generically blond and flat with a part down the middle. It hangs almost to my waist because my mom refuses to let me cut it. She says long hair is feminine and boys prefer it. As if either of those are good things.

I wish I could chop my hair to my shoulders and wash it with dish soap so it puffed out, like Patti Smith’s. Or even steal my dad’s razor and shave it off completely. I don’t know which would freak out my mom and Aunt Mandy more.

I’m dreading prom, Sharon. Tim Weiss probably plans to spend the entire night behind the gym getting stoned with the other guys instead of dancing with me. He only asked me in the first place because Carolyn convinced Brett to get him to.

Mom bought me this hideous dress. It’s sea-green gingham with fat sleeves and a fatter ruffle at the bottom of the skirt. She took me to a seamstress to get the hem let out, and now it’s even puffier than it was on the rack and it covers my feet completely. I’ll look like a legless gingham marshmallow.

I’m so jealous that your school only lets seniors go to prom. I’m more jealous of your brother for having the nerve to just not go. Maybe next year I’ll be as brave as him.

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