You have questions. I have answers.
Q: Is that you?
A: Yes, it’s me. In the orange. And that’s my younger sister, Rebecca, in the bee outfit.
Q: Wow. When was that taken?
A: A long time ago.
Q: I meant, like, how old are you guys there?
A: I don’t know. I think that was fifth grade for me, second for Rebecca. I don’t know. The neon orange is burning holes in my retinas and also in my memory. And I can never tell how old kids are, even when the kids are me and my sister, looking directly at me through time and space.
Q: What was this for?
A: It’s a family portrait.
Q: That’s really intense, Mary.
A: I was joking! It’s a picture for a dance recital! Look, hurry up; I have to keep this post short because yesterday’s was extra long.
Q: Is the point of those tights to make you look tan?
A: I… I don’t know.
Q: Your sister is crazy adorable. Is the front of her outfit… Is it plastic?
A: I don’t know, probably.
Q: Did you guys save the costumes and the headbands and stuff and wear them after the recital?
A: For literally years.
Q: Did you like dance class?
A: I never understood that dance did not necessarily involve toe shoes. That’s what I was in it for from the start. I was continually disappointed when they were not distributed. I quit after a while because there kept not being toe shoes. No one ever really explained that you have to work up to that.
Q: Was it an artistic choice, do you think, on the part of the photographer, to cut off the wicker hole on the right side?
A: Let’s all believe it was.
