In My Mother's Size Chart, I Was Always Twelve

For Grandma's seventieth birthday, Mom ordered new outfits for the whole family and booked a portrait sitting.

Dad's shirt fit. My brother's new shoes fit. My sister's waistband had been measured just yesterday.

Only my zipper stuck below my shoulder blades, and no matter what I did, it wouldn't go up.

Mom called through the curtain:

"Deidre Carpenter, suck it in."

"It's just one photo. Bear with it for a minute."

I told her it was two sizes too small.

She took out her phone.

"That's impossible. I bought it off the size chart."