For close to 20 years this story was the extent of Judith Swanson's writing portfolio.  It was written for a Bulletin Board on the old Prodigy.com system called America on The Go -- later changed to Village Square.  It was a contest.  I won  . .  a big stuffed grizzly bear.  I didn't write again until the summer of 2001 -- but at least this is not FAN FICTION

NECKBOLT

Sometimes people don't notice.

 Sometimes they are too polite to comment.

 Sometimes they look and don't believe what they see.

When they do comment, often they say "Did it hurt?"

 "No, I tell them, stifling an evil grin. "  I don't tell them my mother used to French Braid my hair and now I can take anything.

 Some, especially those not of my generation, must wonder why I did it.

 The answer is simply, of course, I wanted to be different.  My hair was an average color green, not moss green, seaweed green, or even olive green - but that dull, lifeless green of school "black" boards.  Easy on the eyes.  Who wants to be easy on the eyes.  Speaking of eyes, mine had no sparkle, no reflections, no pretty red streaks.  On applications, I would write for complexion PALE, not ashen, jaundiced or even pallid, just pale.   Even my stitches were done in a nice invisible hemstitch.  I looked at all the new fads, counted cross stitch, blanket stitch, fagoting (look this one up before you get any ideas) and even French knots, but none of them were me.  I wanted something truly different.

 Then one day I wandered by a storefront advertising PIERCING.  I walked in and inquired.

The handsome storekeeper looked like a cross between a pincushion and a voodoo doll - too bad he was gay. 

 "If it's your first, we recommend a body part of which you only have one.  A lot of people think the first one hurts so bad that they do not do the second.  Then they look asymmetrical."  He commented.

He had such a sense of style.

 Not only did I not want to be asymmetrical --   I wanted something that would show.  That ruled out a lot.  Then I remembered a character I had seen in an old movie.     I asked.  He agreed, but stressed that it would take a lot of work on my part. 

 "A lot of people try this themselves.  We don't recommend it."

 That was why I came to a professional.

 "It will take a lot to keep it clean, while the hole is enlarging.  You will need to put larger and larger rods in yourself.  Unless you like coming back here. "

 I listened to the loud sounds of the music (Nine Inch Nails - fitting for a Beauty Store) and the muffled sounds of moaning and screaming.  Yes, I did like this place.  I could learn to like it TOO much.

 "I'll do it.  This is what I really want."

 It took two years to heal.  I won't go into the details.  It might discourage you from trying it.  It involved numerous trips to the hardware store.  I found myself browsing yarn shops (knitting needles come in all sizes) and even  cooking stores (skewers and  chopsticks.) 

 Finally the day came when I slipped in that length of bolt and screwed two stainless steel nuts on the ends.

 I looked in the mirror and smiled.  I LOVED MY PIERCED NECK!!!  I faced life with a new confidence, proud of my new look, every day as I step out of my coffin and into the world. . .

 BUT THIS IS A HALLOWEEN COSTUME CONTEST.  I almost forgot.  For Halloween, I have the cutest little pumpkins with smiley faces that I slip over the ends of the bolt.  HAPPY HALLOWEEN.