Girly Mags -

“You’re looking thin,” she says, which is how she says hello.

I look down at my own phone, face-down on the carpet where I dropped it. girly mags

“Wasn’t what? Digital?” She laughs, and it’s not a nice sound. “You think you need computers to lie to a camera? These photographers knew. The stylists knew. They’d find the little signatures—a twisted reflection, a second shadow, a hand where no hand should be—and they’d leave them in. Like a signature. Or a warning.” “You’re looking thin,” she says, which is how

“That’s a veilleur ,” Eleanor says. “A watcher. They live in reflections. Not mirrors—reflections. Glass, water, polished silver. You never see them directly. Only out of the corner. They gather information about women. Our routines. Our fears. The little prayers we say while we’re putting on lipstick.” Digital

© Henry A. Feild