Full brief underwear - check. Sensible bra - check. Mousy brown hair- check. Average height, average weight, average full stop - check, check, check. If Evelyn had to sum herself in one word, it would be beige. Everything about her was responsible, predictable, safe and boring.
Evelyn felt a growing sense of unease about her lot in life. It was probably because she'd be turning forty. How clichΓ©d. Even her mid-life malady was punctual and unsurprising!
Her days were spent entering data for a company that distributed printer cartridges. The work was monumentally mundane and mind-numbingly beneath her. As an intelligent woman, she could have done anything, but alas she lacked the ambition and drive and, well, this job was secure and meant her bills were paid and food was on the table.
Evelyn yearned for something exciting to happen to her. A cute delivery guy, a small lottery windfall, flowers from a mysterious admirer, anything! Why hadn't it happened yet?
She was pondering this dilemma whilst thumbing through a Woman's Day magazine that a workmate had left in the common room. Ordinarily magazines interested her little. They were full of half- truths, sudsy celebrities and photo-shopped models who'd been airbrushed within an inch of their lives. An article caught her attention, though. It was titled, 'Carpe Diem - Seize the Day & Be The Change.'
The article was by a B-Grade reality star shamelessly self-promoting an up and coming book she'd "written" about holistic health. The actress spruiked the usual clichΓ©s one would expect from a narcissistic wannabe. She said, as an actress she had permission to change who she was regularly and how it allowed her to explore aspects of her personality that were dark or naughty. She was able to dip her toes into the muddy waters without having the real life consequences to deal with. She could, she sprouted, 'Have her cake and eat it too.'
The seed was sown and suddenly started to germinate in Evelyn's fertile imagination. She could 'Be The Change'. Why wait for the knight on steed? Why wait for someone else to rescue her? Why be just boring, beige Evelyn when she, if only for a day, be anyone she wanted to be.
Her afternoon at work passed in a flurry. She was on auto -pilot entering the data with her fingers, whilst simultaneously allowing her imagination to run wild. She could be the change! She could be whoever she wanted to be!
This was the project she was looking for, she could feel the melancholic clouds lifting and it felt positively invigorating.
'If I could be anyone, and do ANYTHING, without consequence, who would I be?' She ruminated throughout that afternoon and into the evening, exploring different scenarios and possibilities.
It was after her third wine (how naughty, it's not even her birthday), that she'd made up her mind. She- boring, beige, responsible Evelyn would be the opposite of who she was.
She committed to this change with zeal. It was Friday, and for the first time in her life, she rang in sick and played hooky. This makeover was going to require time!