Best Looking Girl in Town

From the time she was thirteen Rilla Mabry had been ashamed of her appearance. It was then that she started
growing taller than the other girls. She was also awkward as well as tall and she was too thin.

By the time she was twenty she was fully convinced that her appearance was really something terrible. All of the
other girls seemed little and cute and attractive. No matter what Rilla wore it seemed wrong. She was much too
tall to wear tailored clothes. And thin dresses hung around her loosely.

All of the girls and boys in the group liked Rilla. She was a fine girl - if you could forget the way she looked. Even
her hair was wrong -rather stringy- but she had a pleasant and attractive face.

In spite of her looks Rilla had a boyfriend. He was Patrick Redding

and his father kept a grocery store. Pat wasn’t any great price -but
then you couldn’t expect Rilla, with her looks to do any better. People
felt that Rilla should be satisfied. Pat was a nice-looking boy, and he
shouldn’t be considered unimportant.

Rilla didn’t consider Pat unimportant. She was grateful to him for
being nice to her. She was as pleasant and as friendly as she could
be. As a matter of fact, she liked Patrick a lot. He was fun to be with.
She would have been perfectly satisfied except for the fact that she
was in love with Shane Tennant. All of which did her little good - for
Shane was the price of the town. Shane’s father was a banker - and
rich. His mother was the social leader of the town. Shane was well
much taller than Rilla- and handsome besides.

Pat went into the grocery business with her father. Shane went into the bank. That’s the way sons do in small
towns unless they have definite ideals about law or one of the other professions. Rilla didn’t do anything. Her
parents have just enough money so she didn’t have to work. She went to parties with Patrick- and admired Shane
from a distance. The townspeople felt that she would marry with Pat, that he’d take over his father’s grocery store,
and that they’d settle down.

That might have happened if it hadn’t been for Leslie Durant. Leslie Durant was - and still is - a well-known
magazine illustrator. And he came to Morrisville to visit an aunt. And he was taken everywhere to all of the parties,
of course. He was the social lion of the season. He stayed in town only for few days - but that was long enough for
a lot to happen.

He saw Rilla Mabry. Rilla was standing near the door and she was looking at Shane Tennant. She never knew
how much her face showed what she was thinking about. No one else noticed - but Durant being knew,
understood the situation. He saw Rilla standing not quite straight because she didn’t feel quite as tall that way, in
a badly fitted dress and her hair not quite smooth- and he saw Shane, perfectly dressed, self-confident, good
looking. And then Pat came to ask Rilla for the dance.

On the second day of his visit Durant made his remarkable statement. He told anyone who would listen to him that
Rilia Mabry was by far the best-looking girl in town. One of the best-looking girls he’d ever seen.

Rilia had never had a compliment about her looks before. She had always been shy, self-conscious, and often
unhappy about her appearance. And now the first authority in beauty who had ever been in town claimed that she
was the price.

When Durant, himself, told her what he thought of her she was filled with confusion. She managed finally to thank
him. And later, very shyly, she went up to him.

“I do wish that you would tell me how can look better," she said.
“That’s not really my particular kind of work, “he told her, “but maybe if we get together…”
They got together the next morning. Durant came to Rilla’s house. And with Rilla’s mother acting as helper, they
did things to Rilia and to Rilla’s clothes. Durant made her stand up straight. and he rearranged her hair. And he
told her what was wrong with the clothes she wore.

That night there was a dance for Durant - his last evening in town. And, as he had thought when he started things,
Rilia was, for the first time in her life, the center of attention. Toward the end of the evening Durant had the
satisfaction of seeing Shane Tennant dancing very attentively with Rilia, Shane Tennant whom Rilia had looked at
with longing eyes - and who had never paid any attention to her.

Durant went back to his home and his work in New York and forgot about the whole thing. Years passed. And
then, just the other day, this happened:

Durant was lunching alone at a restaurant when an attractive, tall woman, past her first youth, came up to him.
“You don’t remember me?” she said.
Durant didn’t remember her.
“I am Rilla Tennant - I was Rilla Mabry when you knew me. You came to my home town and - and rather made
my life over. Remember now?”
“Of course, I do “said Durant. “I remember very well. It was my one attempt at changing the destiny of another
person. “
“You did a wonderful job." said Rilla. There was a strange note in her voice which he didn’t understand.
“You married the boy you were in love with. I see. His name was Tennant wasn’t it?”
“Why, yes” said Rilla. “But how did you remember the name? And how did you know I was in love with him?”
“I am good at remembering names. And I saw you looking at him. Simplicity itself! And to think that I was the
cause!
“Yes, you were” said Rilla." It was very funny when you look back on it. There I was going with Patrick Redding,
and in love with Shane, and terribly unhappy and awkward. And you came down and said I was a beauty - so
automatically I became a beauty. And the boys all wanted to go out with me. And I married Shane.”

“Wonderful “said Durant. And he smiled happily. “How are you getting along, now? “
“That is the difficult part. “said Rilla. “You shouldn’t have asked. “
“Shane and I got married. And it didn’t get along very well though I was awfully happy in the beginning.
The Tennants lost all of their money in a bank failure- and my family had its money in the Tennant bank by that
time, so our money went, too. Then Shane fell in love with a chorus girl. I got a divorce of course. I’ve been
teaching in a girls’ school for the past three years. “
“That’s too bad!” said Durant. “But maybe that was better than marrying that other boy whom you didn’t love.”
“Maybe,” said Rilla. “You can never tell. Love goes ...
Patrick Redding took his father’s grocery store and married the cutest girl in town. They have three children and
are very happy. And, oh, yes, he became quite ambitious and started a chain of grocery store. Now he is the
richest and most important man in town”

I) Match the words in the left-hand column with the OPPOSITE in the right-hand column.

1. Thin Large
2. Easy Graceful
3. Straight Lazy
4. Awkward Short
5. Handsome Give up
6. Ambitious Fat
7. Proud Crooked
8. Small Ugly
9. Take over Fast
10. Tall Difficult
Ashamed

II) Discussion questions.

1. Why had Rilla Mabry been ashamed of her appearance?

2. Why did people think that Rilla should be well satisfied with Par Redding as a boyfriend?
 3. With whom was Rilla in love at that time?
4. Who was Leslie Durant and why did he come to Morrisville at this time?
5. What sis Durant say about Rilla Mabry when he first saw her?
6. What suggestion did Durant make to Rilla about changing her appearance?
7. Whom did Rilla finally marry?
8. How did Rilla Mabry’s marriage with Tennant turn out?
9. Whom did Pat Redding finally marry?
10. How did Pat Redding become the richest and most important man in town?

III) Use the following expressions in sentences of your own.

1. Be ashamed of 8. Settle down

2. Be in love with 9. Manage to do something
3. Take over 10. Get along
4. Go up to 11. Be too bad
5. Come up to 12. By far
6. Get together 13. Nearby
7. Make something over

IV) The prefix re- with verbs often has the meaning of again. For example:
He did his homework, but it wasn’t correct, so he had to redo it, in other words, he had to do it again.
Give the form with re- for the following verbs. Then use each of the resulting words in a sentence of your own.

1. Make
2. Model
3. Arrange
4. Appear
5. Consider
6. Tell
7. Fill
8. Settle
9. Build
10. Write

V) Give opinions or reasons for your answers.

1. Does beauty affect one's success in life?

2. Is it better to be physically attractive or intelligent?
3. Is it better to be physically attractive or wealthy?
4. Do people spend too much time and money on beauty?
5. How much time should be spent on making yourself look better each day?
6. Do you think people should have cosmetic surgery to enhance their looks?
7. Do you think beauty affects self-esteem?
8. What do you think of the proverb, "beauty is in the eye of the beholder?"
9. What do you think "beauty is skin deep" means?
10. Do you think people with many tattoos can be beautiful?
11. Do you think people with many piercings can be beautiful?
12. What personality trait is the most important for inner beauty?
13. Would you ever date someone who was not conventionally attractive?
14. What makes one person more attractive than another?
15. Are beauty pageants good or bad?
16. Would you want your children to be beautiful or talented?
17. What are some of the drawbacks of being beautiful?
18. What do you think of celebrities who get plastic surgery?
19. Do you think it's necessary to have plastic surgery if you are famous in order to be successful?
20. Do you think skin color affects whether a person is regarded as beautiful or not?