Flash Fiction: Beauty Pageant

“She’s beauty and she’s grace … ”

Esme hummed along to the lyrics playing over the radio. Some guy named William Shatner, who Esme didn’t know. But the tune was catchy and the lyrics, oh, so perfect, considering she was on her way to her very first beaty pageant.

In her sleek green dress, Esme certainly looked the part. Her hair was coiffed and bouncy, every strand blown-out in perfection. Her entire body had been waxed and plucked for the occasion; her mask of make-up applied with such precision she didn’t dare unscrew her dazzling smile even for a second.

Standing straight and tall in bejeweled five-inch platforms, her back felt like she’d had a staff shoved up her … well, you get the picture.

It would all be worth it when she won.

A light flashed on the screen in front of her. Esme’s smile grew even wider as she wrapped a slim tentacle around the steering column and adjusted course for the small blue and green planet growing in the distance.

Her lack of a formal invitation shouldn’t be a problem. She was obviously born to compete in a pageant titled “Miss UNIVERSE.”