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Chapter Eighteen - To The Bone - |
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Some people are so attractive it hurts to look at them for extended periods of time. You see a lot of them in So Cal. Since before WW2, every prettiest girl in Every Town, U.S.A. migrated west in search of whatever, and then spawned. Their attractive children spawned. And with each successive generation, more and more good-looking genes prevailed over their less attractive sperm-carried cousins. This has been happening since the dawn of time, which is why we humans look so much better than our lizardy ancestors, with the possible exception of British royalty -- but that’s what happens when you swim too close in the gene pool. This phenomenon is not exclusive to Los Angeles. It’s just the sheer numbers that can make it numbing. In fact, when you see one of these beings of superior appearance in certain non-costal towns, you take notice. But we Californians are so anesthetized to the attractive that it requires traveling to other less beautifully populated areas to snap us out of it. I break the attractive down into three categories: Passive, Aggressive, and Passive/Aggressive. The passively beautiful are the ones to watch out for, though they are the most difficult to spot. In fact, the more passive the beauty, the more actively one must seek it out. A passive beauty is beautiful from any angle, at any hour of the day, in any light, with or without any enhancements such as makeup or clothing. If not used with caution, said enhancements can even detract from the passive beauty, though passive beauties almost without exception have an impeccable sense of style and accessorization. Grace Kelly is a fine example of the most outwardly passive beauty. Far more dangerous are those whose beauty is less obvious. These are the people who do the real damage. You see them out of the corner of your eye with no recognition of their beauty. But with each successive glimpse you start to pick up minute details, such as their flawless profile, pearlescent skin, or an undeniable glint in their eye. Any one of those features can rope you in. Before you know it, you can’t take your eyes off the creature. Extended viewing will reveal every perfect detail of their face, an image that will haunt you in consciousness and sleep. Thoughts of abandoning your spouse for this object will cross your mind when you discover after minimal interaction that this person is in possession of not only faultless appearance, but also an equally attractive personality and a hypnotic natural aroma. And it’s not that they work at having all these wonderful attributes, they just have them. And the most amazing feature that they posses is the ability to be forgiven their wonderfulness by the rest of us. Beware the passive beauty. Aggressively attractive people are much easier to spot and not so easily forgiven. These are the people who work out a little too hard, spend a little too much time in the bathroom, and spend a little too much money on clothes. They generally possess at least one of the latest fashion trend at any given time. They are never to be seen outside the house any less than impeccably groomed. Yet, for all the hard work they put into their appearance, they almost never hold up to closer scrutiny; Defects reveal themselves eventually. The aggressively beautiful will not age gracefully. Their attempts to look current, or at least younger than their true age, will become more pitiable with each passing year. They are the subject of whispered sarcasm and unkind graffiti. Forgive the aggressively beautiful. Passive/aggressive beauty is a sneaky thing. Those in its possession can appear to be either an apparent or unassuming beauty, depending on the effect they desire to achieve. This is the key: They are in control of their appearance, though it appears effortless and preordained. Every facet of their beauty is achieved deliberately, but to outsiders it looks as though no thought whatsoever went into their grooming. These are very complex people, because, as opposed to the aggressively attractive, who you want to see fall on their installed faces, if a P/A beauty is ever witnessed in conditions less than their standard, they reveal a fragile, vulnerable interior. This can have a chilling affect. It is heavy stuff to be made privy to another person’s soul accidentally.
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