She punctuated the performance with a breathless ‘Ah, that was so funny’ and wiped her eyes with a napkin. The woman’s mouth was wide open, her head thrown back in religious rapture, her teeth were full of parsley. She laughed so hard at one point that Laura couldn’t help but stare directly at the couple.
She took large gulps of her white wine as he got deeper into his story about conference calls, diary clashes and difficult clients. Her eyes were locked onto his face, her arm mechanically delivered food to her mouth which she chewed and swallowed without tasting. The man on the next table to Laura wasn’t saying anything interesting but you wouldn’t know that by looking at his lunch date. This excerpt is taken from Watching Women & Girls, a collection of short stories by Danielle Pender that explore how women and girls are looked at, look at one another, and look at themselves, and how living as an object can shape their passions, fears, and joys.
