“She stood in front of the mirror a long time, and finally decided she either looked like a sap or else she looked very beautiful. One or the other.”

“When she looked in the mirror these days, she saw someone she didn't recognize...She saw an old woman trying to be beautiful, her skin dry and her wrinkles like cracks. She looked like a very well-dressed winter apple.”

“There she stood. Dark circles ringed her eyes. Her face was pale, almost snow-white. She probably hadn't slept, either. She was still wearing the same dress. Her hair looked like a bomb had gone off. She was beautiful.”

“But history is that rare woman who doesn't like to look at herself in the mirror. History, when she finds herself in front of one, wipes and wipes its surface at though in this way she might change her face to something better”

“She was convinced that she was anorexic, because every time she looked in the mirror she did indeed see a fat person.”

“Helen had to blink a couple of times before she could stop staring and felt her face warm with embarrassment. There was nowhere to look that that wasn't filled with either man pretty or man manly, so she decided she was better looking at the kitchen floor.”