The Nose

When Catharine moved to Atlanta to start her first decent job, her mother warned her to stay away from the Atlanta singles' clubs. "The women in those clubs will rip you apart," she said.

But Catharine really wanted to meet a man. So she went to an Atlanta singles' club anyway, "George's Singles".

Catharine moved here and there around the singles' party, listening but afraid to talk. She doubted if any of the men there would want to meet a woman as plain as she was.

"Hi, I'm Dave," a big, blond man said.

"Well, not the good-looking ones, anyway," Lynne thought.

Dave told her that he had been widowed seven months ago, he was a stockbroker, and he liked sushi. An attractive woman joined them. Attractive or not, she looked a lot like Catharine. They both were about five foot five, weighed 125 pounds, and had brown hair.

"This is Rosalie Rand," Dave said.

Catharine gave Rosalie a sincere compliment on her taste in clothes. Rosalie smiled, thanked her -- and sat down on Dave's lap. She started telling him how her parents were doing.

Catharine got her purse and slumped toward the door. Just then a slender, gray-haired man put down his cigarette and called out, "Leaving so soon? I haven't had a chance to talk to you."

Catharine put down her purse and sat down with him. His name was Mike. Like Dave, he was a widow. He told her that he was a millionaire.

When she was ten and the disfiguring acne first hit, Catharine was upset. Her mother told her that, when she got older, she would be considered beautiful. But how did her mother, who had never had more than five pimples in her life, know?

When Catharine was 21, she was preoccupied with beauty. She compared the face of every woman she saw with her own. She tried every skin care and cover-up product she could find. She was always looking in the mirror.

She hated beautiful women. The way they talked to each other in such sweet tones was disgusting. "Oh, hi!" they would say, so catty. They would whisper to each other and giggle, probably about ugly girls like Catharine. No doubt their phones rang off the hook in the evening. Catharine yearned for just half the attention pretty women got.

The next Saturday evening, Catharine went back to George's Singles. She met an ad man named Harold who moonlighted as a DJ. He was nowhere near as great as Mike was. But as soon as it became obvious that she was hitting it off with Harold, along came Rosalie Rand. She walked right up to Harold and gave him a kiss.

Catharine decided that she needed to do a little background research. She asked around until she found a guy who knew a lot of people. He told her that Rosalie had been born without a nose. She looked good now, but only because a team of plastic surgeons had managed to construct a nose for her.

That night Catharine examined her own nose in the mirror. It wasn't small and perfect, like Rosalie's. It was, well, bulbous. Her acne had cleared up, but with a nose like that and the skin changes that age was causing, Catharine knew that it was too late for her to be attractive.

The following Wednesday, Catharine visited Mike at his farm. "Maybe he really is a millionaire," she thought. "He does have a lot of people working for him."

On Saturday, at George's Singles, there was Rosalie Rand again. Catharine decided to find out just how far Rosalie would go. She found the most unappealing man she could, an overweight, underdressed man named Larry, and began talking to him.

Sure enough, along came Rosalie Rand. Apparently Rosalie didn't know this guy well enough to kiss him or sit on his lap. So she said, "Are you having a good time?"

Larry took the bait. All Catharine could do was stand back and watch.

After Mike started inviting her to the country bar where he played guitar, Catharine never had to go back to George's Singles. Mike was pretty popular. Catharine, as Mike's new girlfriend, got a lot of attention too.

Alexandra, the first woman at the bar that Catharine made friends with, invited everybody at her table to a party she was giving. Catharine learned later that she had invited Mike too, stipulating that he couldn't bring Catharine. So much for that friendship! Mike and Catharine made plans to see a movie on the night of the party.

But Mike called and canceled the movie date with Catharine, saying that he was too sick to go out. A friend told Catharine later that Mike had gone to the party on the sly and spent quite a bit of time alone there with Alexandra.

Catharine was furious. The next Saturday evening, she dressed up sexier than she usually did and got to the bar early. As soon as Alexandra walked in, Catharine confronted her with what she had found out.

"So?" Alexandra said.

"You don't see anything wrong with stealing my man?" Catharine asked.

"You still got him," Alexandra said. "I just borrowed him for a night."

Catharine said, "Alexandra, you know what I mean."

Alexandra's face got a little darker and her voice got a little louder.

"Listen, you skinny, stuck up, little bitch! Mike was mine long before you came along, and now he drags you in here and shows you off right in front of me. You're so lucky -- you got a millionaire for a boyfriend. And, on top of that, now you think you can tell him how to spend every blessed minute of his free time. Whatta you think the world owes you, anyway?"

She turned away, but Catharine heard her hiss, "God, I hate beautiful women!"