streetcar showoff bikini contest contestant 2

#Streetcar showoff bikini contest contestant 2 windows

She planned to pursue her modelling career, forgoing college. Kelly, my closest friend, insisted on moving with me, which made the notion of the daunting city a little less frightening. This meant paying a little more in rent than I hoped to budget for, but my father would have it no other way. He was by then retired and determined to make sure that I lived in a safe area if I insisted on moving so far away from home. I thought about coming to the city four years earlier with my father to find an apartment.

#Streetcar showoff bikini contest contestant 2 windows

I couldn’t bear to read the advertising above the windows for the millionth time, so sitting in the uncomfortable orange plastic seat I idly took stock of the last few years of my life. The soft dinging of the doors provided the tempo. I watched the passengers rhythmically weave in and out of the doors at each station as though performing a well rehearsed do-si-do with a hundred different partners. I had to take the subway to get back home. I promised that when I became a designer I would purchase fabric from no one else to repay her for her kindness. I knew that Mama Silk would play a very important role in my career one day. I never told a soul about Mama Silk’s shop. Even Professor McNally couldn’t help but caress the fabrics herself, when I presented her with various projects at different stages for her assistance and advice. Throughout school, my classmates were always baffled by the quality of my samples. At the end of every visit she would always give my hand a soft squeeze and what could only be perceived as an affectionate smile over the counter. Mama Silk always delighted in showing me the new stock shipped in directly from her homeland. I found myself thinking that might be the only English, Mama Silk knew and that’s why she only ever charged “one dolla”.

Never needing more than just a sample, the owner, who I referred to as Mama Silk, rarely charged me more than a dollar for an armful of her exquisite fabrics.

I would often bring in a project piece and we would work on it together, coordinating patterns and textures and hues. The owner, a little Chinese woman perhaps in her 60s, didn’t speak English, and I certainly did not speak Chinese, but we both spoke the language of fabric and therefore got along superbly. It was no ordinary fabric shop, but my little piece of heaven in a foreign world which carried only the most beautiful array of silks in an endless rainbow of colours. I jumped on the streetcar at Spadina and headed for Chinatown and my favorite little fabric shop. I looked around, the sun shone, a warm breeze blew across my face, I could hear it whisper change. The Institute of Design molded me into a serious young designer - and I no longer needed to be there. My suit still looked great though, since I rarely wore it a black slim fitting cotton and wool blend with a skinny faux alligator belt – talk about cruelty to fake animals – I had been stress eating for the last year and the belt was being seriously challenged by my waistline. They were old and scuffed-up, but paying for tuition and materials for school didn’t leave a lot left over to invest in my wardrobe. There were five boards in all and with the last one in place I looked down at my shoes in an effort to gain my composure. With each board that went up, I could hear whispering from the students at my back. I took a deep breath, and descended the stadium style stairs to the front of the class where I began quickly mounting my design boards onto the lip of the blackboard. The top student at the end of the program could be offered a position as an apprentice at Professor McNally’s infamous studio in the Art and Design district. On my turn to present, I tried not to remind myself that all my hopes and dreams rested on this final project. I wish I could have just very coolly stared back at her and perhaps raised one eyebrow as if to say. Out of habit, not spite, I smiled back at her and then instantly regretted it. Carla sauntered back to her seat flashing me a challenging smile.