Almost Obsession

Today’s prompt: “Ethan Canin said that he wrote ‘The Accountant’ (in The Palace Thief) because he wanted to write a story in which a pair of socks seemed important. Pick an ordinary object. Make it someone’s obsession. Write a story about the obsession.”

When I was 13 or 14, I had a subscription to Teen magazine. I kind of wish I still had them. Those ’90s magazines would look ridiculously dated today. I remember the goofy quizzes, and the fashion articles on the perfect swimsuit or pair of shorts for your body type. But mostly I remember the ads. Caboodles. Skechers. And Designer Imposters. Those weird little tubes of body spray that are supposed to mimic famous perfumes, with labels saying, “If you like Giorgio® you’ll love PRIMO!” or “If you like Obsession® you’ll love CONFESS.” In googling this today, I discovered that a) they still make them, b) they now have Imposter versions of fragrances by Taylor Swift and Justin Bieber, and c) they’re still packaged in those oh-so-‘90s cans with brush-stroke designs in pastels and neons.

Anyway, this is just a long way of saying that you accidentally found yourself in the Rite Aid perfume aisle between the Designer Imposters and a woman willing to literally kill for a can of CONFESS.