Think Pink

Hannah Retallick

pink lemonade

I told Jess I didn’t want a kitchen that colour, but she went ahead and did it anyway. Think pink. What is that song? From a musical…the one with The Audrey and The Fred, who can both dance but barely sing.

Funny Face, that’s it – ‘Think Pink’ from Funny Face. My face ain't funny today, I’ll tell you that for nothing.

Pah, where is she? Hiding, no doubt, like there’s anything I could do. She’s always been this way. Eccentric.

Can you imagine what my dear mother-in-law must have said on the most important day of her daughter’s life when she saw the bride in hot pink and the three bridesmaids in white? I was probably making a hash of my tie in another room, oblivious to everything else but my creasing shirt and sweaty feet and the best man’s antics. (That’s a whole other story.)

Whatever my mother-in-law said to Jess at that moment, it can’t have been pretty. Oh dear oh dear! Classic. I mean, white is virginal; red is…ya know. But pink? What the hell is pink?

She was a stunner though.

And now this. Eccentric is as eccentric does. Jess has excelled herself. Tiptoes into the room, no socks, never socks. She’s blushing her favourite colour while she wraps her arms around my waist. Don’t be cross, please don’t be cross, you got to choose yellow for the living room and I don’t like yellow, please don’t be cross. Yes, dear, well that’s, it’s quite, isn’t it, uh huh. Sniffing her strawberry shampoo. Curling my fingers around her blonde split ends, tempted to tug, gently, jokingly.

I’d told her I didn’t want a pink kitchen, but she’d gone ahead and done it anyway. What’s a guy to do? Paint over it, I hear you say. Ha! You might not value your life, marriage, and happiness, but I do.

So, I look again.

Pink. Pale Pink. Rosy Pink. Dusty Pink. Happy Wife Pink.

It ain't such a bad shade.

About the author

Hannah Retallick is a twenty-five-year-old from Anglesey, North Wales. She was home educated and then studied with the Open University, graduating with a First-class honours degree, BA in Humanities with Creative Writing and Music, and is studying for an MA in Creative Writing. She is working on her second novel and writes short stories and a blog. She was shortlisted in the Writing Awards at the Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival 2019, the Cambridge Short Story Prize, and the Henshaw Short Story Competition June 2019. https://ihaveanideablog.wordpress.com/