It’s morning and everybody’s awake and working. My brother already dressed up for school, my mom talking to someone (probably one of the maids), and the other maid is cleaning around the bedroom.

From the bedroom I undress and go to the bathroom. And when I stand in front of the mirror, holding on to the sink, I feel my feet firmly touch the ground and my legs supporting my whole body. I scream in disbelief. “I’m standing! I’m standing!” I head out to the bedroom and say “Look, everybody, I’m finally standing. Wow, I’m so tall.” They all stare for two reasons: I really am standing and I’m still undressed.

Not that I had anything to hide, after they admired my upright posture and compared how much I’ve grown compared to my brother, I took a few minutes in front of my mirror to admire what has happened to me. I was standing, tall and beautiful. And it wasn’t some foreign unreachable pulchritude that was posing inside the mirror, it was me, all me. I play with new clothes that wouldn’t have fit me before - particularly a forest green zip-up vest that I could wear over my school uniform. Then, I wake up.