THE SHOOTING STAR
What got him booked to appear
on her popular afternoon talk show
was the feat of having reached middle age
with fame still firmly filling his sails and scandal
never having tarnishing his family name.
“What advice would you give young
women out there watching today,” she asked.
The star’s brow arched; he’d got a similar question
from male interviewers but never a woman, and for this
a mostly female audience. He leaned forward, just like
the good doctor he’d once played on TV, folded his
fingers together and said: “simply this. No matter
how old you are, how you’re dressed that day, or
how you happen to be feeling, never be afraid to
walk into a room full of men and state what
you’re there for. They’ll respect you for it,
and speak well of your confidence.”
Kelly was six when she watched this show.
Moments later her mother gave her an order,
and Kelly marched to the corner bar, full of men
swearing and smoking and elbowing one another
and when the bartender looked down and said ‘and
what would you like, little lady?’ she pointed at her
father, half asleep at the end of the bar. Two men
hoisted him to his feet and saw him home. And
though the star passed away at a young age,
Kelly still walks into rooms full of men and
leaves with just what she came for, hearing
the words of two men that day: ‘you got
yourself a fine daughter there.’
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