Crystal by Walter Dean Myers

there?”
    “You mean him feeling me up?” Crystal said.
    “You made an impression on Marc Everby! We’re going to be in La Femme !” Jerry put both hands to his head. “Marc Everby wants to use you in a layout!”
    “That’s good,” Crystal said, without feeling any of the emotion that Jerry was showing.
    “You in the mood to go someplace and celebrate?” Jerry asked.
    “I think I’m going to head home.”
    “Okay, look, I’ll call Loretta. What I want to do is to get you over to the studio as soon as possible. Maybe even tomorrow. We shoot as much as possible. We don’t want to blow this chance. Right?”
    “Right.”
    “And Crystal?”
    “Yeah.”
    “Look, I just want to tell you that you were a real pro in there.” Jerry put his hands on her shoulders. “Sometimes this business gets a little rough around the edges, but you handled it well. I’ll call you tomorrow, or maybe Loretta will call you, okay?”
    “Sure.”
     
     
    Crystal hurried home. It was cool and there were a few drops of rain falling. The sky was gray but bright, almost silver. When she got home, her mother was cooking. The hearty smell of the beef stew filled the kitchen.
    “How did it go?” Crystal’s mother had tasted the stew and held the wooden spoon inches from her mouth.
    “Okay, I guess,” Crystal said. “That Marc Everby’s got some office.”
    “Did you actually meet him?” Her mother turned and leaned against the table.
    “Yes,” Crystal said. “I didn’t think he was so great, though.”
    “Oh, he is!” Carol Brown said. She sat at the kitchen table. “He’s simply fabulous! Sit down and tell me about the meeting!”
    “Well…” Crystal sat at the end of the table. “First he kept us waiting forever.”
    “He’s probably got a thousand things to do,” her mother said. “I understand he runs that magazine with an iron hand. That’s why it’s been around so long.”
    “He said that maybe I should have my molars taken out,” Crystal said. “He was serious, too!”
    “It’s because your face is so round” was the quick reply.“You want something to eat?”
    “No.”
    “I think by next year you’ll lose that roundness,” her mother said. “It’s not that bad, anyway. You’ll have to watch your diet, though.”
    “Then he asked me to stand up and turn around, so he could look at me.”
    “Did you feel beautiful?”
    “Not exactly.”
    “You have to think beautiful at times like that, Crystal,” her mother said. “You have to tell yourself that you’re beautiful, and then project it.”
    “He put his hands on my stomach.”
    “You have a good body, I’m sure he could tell that. And you’ll keep it a long time, too. My mother kept her body, the firmness, until she was well into her thirties. Even with three children she was considered the prettiest Black woman in Beckley,” her mother said. “Did he say when he’d make a decision?”
    “He told Jerry to send over some photos,” Crystal said. “He thinks maybe he can use me in a layout.”
    “Oh, my God!” Crystal’s mother put her hand on her daughter’s arm. “You mean he’s actually going to…?”
    “I guess so,” Crystal said. “Jerry was really excited about it.”
    “Baby, it’s wonderful! It’s simply wonderful!”
    “I guess it is,” Crystal said.
    “Look, what do you say we turn off this stew and go out for dinner tonight? Let’s party!”
    “Mama, I’m tired. I’m really so tired. I’ve got to shower, too. I feel dirty.”
    “Okay, dear,” her mother said. “I’m sure it’s been a hard day for you.”
    “What…what do you think about him putting his hands on me?” Crystal asked.
    “It’s his business to judge girls,” Carol Brown said. “To him it’s probably no different than checking out the feel of a typewriter. People like him don’t even think of you as a girl. They think of you as part of their business.”
    “I guess that’s how I felt, too,” Crystal