The Elusive Yellow Dress

I logged onto Google+ this afternoon only to discover my friend L's peril. While exploring the city, she had come across a beautiful yellow dress - lacy, 40s, long-sleeved, and completely ironic. Eagerly, she rushed home to buy it online, presumably because she did not have enough money on her. Unfortunately, after trolling the store's 300+ dresses online, she came up empty. The dress had completely disappeared.

This kind of reminded me of something that happened earlier this week. I had entered the Scholastic Writing Awards, a contest that everyone from teachers to parents to random people who read my poems online told me a was a shoe-in to win. It was so tangible - just like the dress in the window - until the results came back, and though I did not go unmentioned (honorably), I did not win an award. If she had the means, L could have gone in right then and picked it up and paid and worn it the very next day. As soon as L could actually reach the dress, however, it was gone. Rather like my victory, I might add.