Mulch ado about nothing

poured.
    “I have a question for you. You must go to a lot of trouble to look as you do. And I can’t help but wonder why. ”
    Kipsy started to stand up in preparation for stomping out.
    Shelley put a hand on her arm. “I meant no crit icism at all. I’m genuinely interested. I love to know about human nature.”
    Sullenly Kipsy lowered herself back onto the kitchen chair. “Yeah, me too.“
    “Didn’t all those things you’ve had pierced hurt a lot?“ Shelley asked.
    “Not that much. They sorta numb you with a piece of ice.“
    “And it doesn’t hurt to wear them either?“
    “Uh-uh. Not often. The eyebrow ring some times gets stuck in my bangs, though, and it can be a bitch—I mean a pain to get it loose.”
    Shelley smiled supportively. “How interesting. I wonder, are you planning any changes in your appearance?“
    “I was thinking about another tattoo, but can’t think where to put it.“
    “The holes you’ve punched in yourself would probably close up if you changed your jewelry style, right?“
    “I guess so,“ she said in a surly manner. “But a tattoo is pretty much forever?“
    “Why do you ask?“
    “Let me ask my earlier question in another way. Are you planning to look this way when you’re thirty or forty and even fifty?“
    “Fifty!“ Kipsy yelped. “I’ll never be fifty.”
    Shelley shook her head. “But you will, you know. How will you feel about the tattoos then? ”
    Kipsy shrugged. “They’ll have some way to get rid of them by that time. Laser stuff or some thing.“
    “So you imagine you’ll want to get rid of them someday?“
    “I hadn’t thought about it.“
    “Do.”
    Shelley topped up Kipsy’s drink. “You’re probably a pretty girl. I want to understand what you mean people to think of you. Do you want to frighten them, or make them laugh, or think you’re really cool and mode rn ?“
    “I don’t think about that stuff. Mrs. Nowack, I can look any way I want. If my own mom doesn’t care, why should you? ”
    Because I’m a better mother than yours, Shelley thought.
    “I guess it’s just because I am a mother,“ Shelley said offhandedly. “My daughter’s a little younger than you and, of course, won’t talk about her feelings with me. I’ll bet you didn’t talk to your mother when you were sixteen either. So partly, I want to know what to say if she wants to get a tattoo or to pierce her nose.”
    Kipsy mumbled something into her drink. Then looked defiantly at Shelley. “Tell her not to. Some of the kids laugh at me. I don’t care. They’re dummies. They’re just scared of being themselves like I am. They’re the insecure ones.”
    So somebody’s called you insecure, Shelley thought. “Mike doesn’t laugh at you, does he?“
    “No, I guess he doesn’t. He can see who I really am.“
    “I think I understand what you mean,“ Shelley said. She could hear Mike coming down the steps. “Thank you, Kipsy, for being honest with me. “ And a tiny bit honest with yourself, she added mentally.
    “Are you two chewing the fat?“ Mike said with a laugh. “That’s something Grumps always says. Grumps is my grandpa,“ he explained to Kipsy. “But he’s not grumpy at all. Let’s go to a movie, since I have the rest of the afternoon off.”
    Kipsy got up and followed him to the door, but stopped and looked back for a moment at Shelley. “Thank you, too, Mrs. Nowack,“ she said.
    Jane clumped into the kitchen a few minutes later. “You really put that girl through the wringer.“
    “I didn’t mean to. It just perpetually perplexes me that kids will go out of their way to look foolish or dirty or bizarre. I must have missed that stage.“
    “Most of us do,“ Jane said, sitting where Kipsy had sat.
    “But isn’t it human nature to want to be liked?“ Jane tilted her head and considered. “Maybe not so much liked as admired, I suppose. And sometimes feared. You scare the devil out of a lot of people, and I know perfectly well you enjoy it.”
    Shelley started to object, then grinned. “Only if they’re jerks.“
    “So did you get a blinding insight from Kipsy?”
    Shelley made a so-so motion with her hand. “I think no one had ever asked her why she wanted to look like a freak. I didn’t say that outright—“
    “I know. I was eavesdropping.“
    “I suspect she just needed parental guidance. “
    “You and I both know how well that goes over with teenagers.“
    “But they need it, even though they’d never in the