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Blue hadn’t always been Maria’s favorite color.
She was partial to green for a while—to her young, developing mind, the color of lizards, dinosaurs, bugs, and other creepy-crawly things that lived in the “green” that the other children were too afraid to touch.
But she was also partial to yellow—the color of her mother’s favorite headscarf, patterned brightly in red and yellow florals that almost matched the aging wallpaper of their home. It was the color of her own hair, though, which meant a scarf such as her mother’s would not look as elegant in her hair as it did hers, which was flowing and vibrant and a deep, chestnut brown. Maria yearned for a day she could dress as beautifully as her mother, but with the way her illness was treating her, she wasn’t sure if she’d have a day where she ever felt beautiful at all. Much less grow into a beautiful woman.
Yellow was also the primary color on a set of nesting dolls her grandfather had given her for the holidays a year before she moved up to the ARK. The little dolls—with the surprise hedgehog inside—still sat out on her bedside table, guarding her diaries and homework assignments to this day. And so, she had naturally acquired a particular fondness for the color, being so close to an item that reminded her of home.
The day Maria became fond of blue was the first day she could get dressed without pain.
It was embarrassing—a girl well past her toddling days still having to be wrangled into her clothes by her parents or grandfather. She often grew frustrated when her knuckles seized up, or the tiniest miscalculation sent a tingling nerve pain up through her forearms. She was rapidly approaching her teen years and quickly growing too embarrassed to accept the help, even when she’d had no issue with it before. It was just always how her life had been.
But now, she was tired of being sick, and so she’d spend hours of her morning fighting against her body’s many protestations, refusing help from her grandfather who would come knocking at her door. Until one day, Gerald approached Maria’s room with a different plan.
”Maria,” Gerald said, giving a gentle knock upon the door.
Maria groaned. It was always this again, their bartering with each other from across her bedroom door.
“I’m almost ready,” she spat out from the other side, where she was currently positioned on her bed, leaning heavily on her right shoulder blade against her headboard, one foot up to the air as she tried to wrangle on a skirt with her other leg misbeheaved. “I know I’m late for my lesson.”
”That’s it, girl. I have something to help you.”
”I don’t need any help!” Maria huffed, but thumped her leg back down. She wrestled herself to her other side. Maybe if she tried this angle….
”Will you just come out here a minute and see the damned thing?”
Maria sighed. She could only imagine her grandfather must have concocted some sort of robot to assist her with the chore. Pre-emptively taking the job of his “Ultimate Lifeform” that was still in development…
Maria hastily wrapped her blanket like a robe around her body, toting along her left leg that still refused to exercise its full range of motion.
“It’s just one leg today, it’ll wear off,” Maria said as she opened the door. But as she lifted her eyes, she was surprised to see no robot but rather a plain white box in her grandfather’s hands.
“They finally arrived,” Gerald said. “Why don’t you take a look at what’s inside?”
Maria lifted the lid—a clothing box—and saw a blue blouse on the inside. She lifted it up, running her eyes up and down along the distinct line of white down the middle of the collar.
”New clothes?” Maria asked. “Why would I need—?”
”Just try them. You’re a clever girl. You’ll thank me later,” Gerald said, and walked back down the hall.
Maria watched him go. He confidently turned the corner with his hands behind his back, and she heard him pour a coffee and thunk confidently back down onto the couch. Waiting.
Maria looked down at the box in her hands. Nothing unusual about the clothes… but she supposed she wouldn’t be leaving until her grandfather saw she had tried them on.
Maria closed her bedroom door and dropped the box down on her bed, splaying out each of the items. Identical sets of the blue and white blouse, a lighter blue skirt, and a plain blue headband to go along. Maria inspected them, feeling the look was almost a little too put-together, like she was some kind of doll…
But then Maria’s hands grazed against a thick panel in the front of the blouse. It extended all the way down the middle and the collar, and she discovered—
Velcro?!
Maria ripped open the blouse in a frenzy. Velcro. Snaps. Large closures for the zippers. No tiny, accursed buttons to be found. Ways for the blouse to contort and expand at every angle—all easily secured from any way she might suddenly face paralysis.
She could put on this shirt from any angle. No more forcing her body to contort to the build of the clothes…
She dove toward the set of skirts next. All the same thing. Easily adjustable—almost magical—and she could step her way into it even with her leg that lagged behind. In fact, if she wanted, she could put it on over her head and then flatten it down.
It was perfect. It was the first time in her life Maria had been dressed in seconds, not minutes, let alone by herself, and in her frenzied joy that came bursting out of her, she could hardly even care that she bolted down the hall like a wounded animal, nearly tumbling over herself as she caught up to her grandpa in a winded flurry.
”Grandpa!!”
Gerald saw her frantic—yet overjoyed—expression and laughed, setting his coffee down on the table.
“What did I tell you, my girl? I knew you’d love them.”
”They’re amazing!! It’s—”
Maria looked down at herself. Not only were they adaptable, they were comfortable. Soft, almost silken fabric lined the entire inside. No more uncomfortable scratching against her sensitive skin, which often left her with bumps and rashes by the end of the day. Gerald approached and put his arm around her. She embraced him.
”Thank you, grandpa,” she said, holding back the warm wetness of tears that were welling into her eyes. She’d be so embarrassed if she started crying right now. Over a gift, no less. But she was flooded with emotion. If she could get dressed by herself—and feel comfortable in her clothes—then maybe, for the first time in her life, she would feel beautiful.
“I think there’s one you’re forgetting, love,” Gerald said, taking her hand as he helped guide Maria back to her bedroom, Maria pushing through the pins and needles feeling of her leg barely wanting to cooperate.
Gerald lifted the headband from her bed—amidst the pile of her hastily-strewn sets of clothing—tucked her hair back, and gently placed the headband on her head. Maria felt an icy coolness at her temples—the headband, too, was a concealed medical device. He gave her a kiss on the top of her forehead.
”There, my girl,” he said, admiring her, and all the freedom and relief and joy now radiating off her face. “All fit for a budding genius. One who deserves her independence, and to look her best at that.”