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    Nothing Extraordinary

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    The narrator recalls feeling ashamed of her mother while shopping at a mall near their apartment in an affluent neighborhood. Her mother is plain and worn down from working long hours to provide for their family, in contrast to the wealthy shoppers at the mall. Feeling embarrassed, the narrator leaves her mother and later finds her offering to buy an expensive sweater for the narrator, realizing her mother has sacrificed luxuries to support her. She is no longer ashamed of her mother but of her own shallow behavior.

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    Nothing Extraordinary

    Uploaded by

    api-249715528
    1K views2 pages
    The narrator recalls feeling ashamed of her mother while shopping at a mall near their apartment in an affluent neighborhood. Her mother is plain and worn down from working long hours to provide for their family, in contrast to the wealthy shoppers at the mall. Feeling embarrassed, the narrator leaves her mother and later finds her offering to buy an expensive sweater for the narrator, realizing her mother has sacrificed luxuries to support her. She is no longer ashamed of her mother but of her own shallow behavior.

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    nothing extraordinary

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    The narrator recalls feeling ashamed of her mother while shopping at a mall near their apartment in an affluent neighborhood. Her mother is plain and worn down from working long hours to provide for their family, in contrast to the wealthy shoppers at the mall. Feeling embarrassed, the narrator leaves her mother and later finds her offering to buy an expensive sweater for the narrator, realizing her mother has sacrificed luxuries to support her. She is no longer ashamed of her mother but of her own shallow behavior.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    1K views2 pages

    Nothing Extraordinary

    Uploaded by

    api-249715528
    The narrator recalls feeling ashamed of her mother while shopping at a mall near their apartment in an affluent neighborhood. Her mother is plain and worn down from working long hours to provide for their family, in contrast to the wealthy shoppers at the mall. Feeling embarrassed, the narrator leaves her mother and later finds her offering to buy an expensive sweater for the narrator, realizing her mother has sacrificed luxuries to support her. She is no longer ashamed of her mother but of her own shallow behavior.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    of 2

    Nothing Extraordinary

    By Jeniffer Kim

    It was a Saturday. Whether it was sunny or cloudy, hot or cold, I cannot remember, but I do remember it
    was a Saturday because the mall was packed with people.

    I was with my mom.

    Mom is short. Skinny. It is easy to overlook her in a crowd simply because she is nothing extraordinary to
    see.

    On that day we strolled down the slippery-slick tiles with soft, inconspicuous steps, peeking at window
    boutiques in fleeting glances because we both knew we wouldn’t be buying much, like always.

    I remember I was looking up at the people we passed as we walked — at first apathetically, but then
    more attentively.

    Ladies wore five-inch heels that clicked importantly on the floor and bright, elaborate clothing. Men
    strode by smelling of sharp cologne, faces clear of wrinkles — wiped away with expensive creams.

    An uneasy feeling started to settle in my chest. I tried to push it out, but once it took root it refused to
    be yanked up and tossed away. It got more unbearable with every second until I could deny it no longer;
    I was ashamed of my mother.

    We were in a high-class neighborhood, I knew that. We lived in a small, overpriced apartment building
    that hung on to the edge of our county that Mom chose to move to because she knew the schools were
    good.

    We were in a high-class neighborhood, but as I scrutinized the passers-by and then turned accusing eyes
    on Mom, I realized for the first time that we didn’t belong there.

    I could see the heavy lines around Mom’s eyes and mouth, etched deep into her skin without luxurious
    lotions to ease them away. She wore cheap, ragged clothes with the seams torn, shoes with the soles
    worn down. Her eyes were tired from working long hours to make ends meet and her hair too gray for
    her age.

    I looked at her, and I was ashamed.

    My mom is nothing extraordinary, yet at that moment she stood out because she was just so plain.

    Mumbling I’d meet her at the clothes outlet around the corner, I hurried away to the bathroom. I didn’t
    want to be seen with her, although there was no one important around to see me anyway.

    When I finally made my way to the outlet with grudging steps, I found that Mom wasn’t there.
    With no other options, I had to scour the other stores in the area for her. I was dreading returning to her
    side, already feeling the secondhand embarrassment that I’d recently discovered came with being with
    her.

    I couldn’t have been more wrong. Mom was standing in the middle of a high-end store, holding a
    sweater that looked much too expensive.

    She said, “This will look good on you. Do you want it?”

    It was much too expensive. And I almost agreed, carelessly, thoughtlessly.

    Then I took a closer look at the small, weary woman with a big smile stretching across her narrow face
    and a sweater in her hands, happy to be giving me something so nice, and my words died in my throat.

    I felt like I’d been dropped into a cold lake.

    Her clothes were tattered and old because she spent her money buying me new ones. She looked so
    tired and ragged all the time because she was busy working to provide for me. She didn’t wear jewelry
    or scented perfumes because she was just content with me.

    Suddenly, Mother was beautiful and extraordinarily wonderful in my eyes.

    I was no longer ashamed of her, but of myself.

    “Do you want it?” My mom repeated.

    “No thanks.”

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