1977 in Dallas

In the heart of Dallas, Texas, during the sweltering summer of 1977, Amanda Hodges, known to all as Mandy, was coming of age. She was the youngest of three children all born in Jackson, Mississippi. Seeking work, her father had brought the family to Dallas. With the trauma of the move and loss of friendships, she felt alone, easily overlooked by parents who were consumed with the daily struggle to make ends meet in the tumultuous city. At 17, Mandy was a striking contrast to her family's modest existence; a good student with a yearning to be seen and acknowledged, to find her place in the world.  
 
Mandy's search for acceptance led her to a group of older peers, students who seemed to know the ropes of life far better than she did. They were her gateway to the Dallas nightlife, a world that shimmered with the promise of excitement and recognition. It was there, among the glittering lights and pulsing music, that Missy's beauty and vivacity caught the eyes of many, quickly turning her into an object of desire among men who saw her.  
 
One of those men was George, a 34-year-old businessman with a wife and two children. To Mandy, he was the epitome of sophistication and success, a man who seemed to hold the key to the world she longed to enter. George showered her with compliments and gifts and he found his way into her inexperienced heart.  
 
Their infatuation grew swiftly, and soon George booked a room for them at the opulent Hotel Indigo. Mandy had never been surrounded by such luxury. The room was filled sumptuous fabrics and a bed that seemed to float on a sea of pillows and down. The air was perfumed with the scent of fresh flowers, and the city lights twinkled like a constellation of stars through tall windows that were so clear they didn’t seem to have glass at all.  
 
In that elegant room so foreign to anything Mandy had ever known she fell under the tender touch of George's affections. Surely, she had stepped into a dream. The man was kind and attentive, making her feel cherished in a way she had never known.  
 
As George stood motionless in the center of the room, he pressed down slightly on Mandy’s shoulders, and she seemed to know instinctively what he was asking. As she knelt, he bowed his head slightly. Lost in the silvery straight parting of her hair, he studied if reading the history of her life etched into her scalp. He thought of her mother’s careful hands brushing what had once been little girl curls and how her mother must have loved Mandy despite their lives of hardship. He knew she was a smart student in school, and he imagined her quiet commitment when bent over a school desk writing poems about the things teenagers think about.  
 
But now Mandy seemed older to him. He reached down, and let his fingers trace the path of the parted hair before coming to rest atop the parietal lobe of her skull where, as a doctor, he could easily imagine thoughts flashing there.  
 
Mandy swayed, moving ever so slightly toward him and then away like a reed captured by a gentle breeze. Her movements echoed the faint music that drifted up from the street below. George watched her, thinking of the blessed gift she was giving in that moment. He caressed her head and gasped in what was pure delight. In Mandy’s parted lips of acceptance, George felt overwhelming love for this young forbidden girl who had slipped into his life.  
 
In those moments and the ones following, Mandy felt seen, truly seen, not as the youngest child who had to fight for attention, not as the dazzling beauty on the arm of a wealthy man, but as herself – a girl with dreams and desires, a girl who was worthy of love. And in the quiet elegance of that hotel room, with a man who was not hers to keep, Mandy found a mixed blessing of acceptance along with life’s sweetest pleasures.