Eyeglasses

They were her costume. Her armor. Her secret weapon. She could hide behind them and yet be in clear sight. They were invisible and yet alarming.

 At some point later in her career, she had realized that while her height and demeanor had been her secret weapon, intimidating and keeping her opponents at bay, she needed something else.  An older woman wasn't as threatening. More annoying or curious and she did not want to be a curiosity.  She wanted to win. 

It had come to her suddenly in the opticians.  A chance comment from another customer as she tried, "for fun," a pair of bold, odd shaped glasses.  "Those are scary. Don't get those." 

Scary? Off putting? Bold?  She had been called all of those things during her career. Why not embrace it rather than try to put people at ease?   

"I'll take them!" 

She had never regretted the decision. In the middle of a negotiation, she would now turn to the gadfly of the day, whip off her glasses and stare them down with her ice blue eyes. They never knew what hit them.  Nothing had been said. No quarter given, but now they felt at her mercy. The defeat showing in the slump of their shoulders.  Their rhythm disrupted. The point won without bloodshed.

They never knew what had hit them.  She'd achieved her vision.

 From: Words and Pictures, Pictures and Words by Heather Cronrath and Patty Kaufman