The girl needs a mole

"Girl with a mole," drawing by Maria Rosales Gerpe

I'm painting when I realize the girl needs a mole. I put it right above the corner of her mouth. Just like my mom used to have.

There was a girl in uni with a similar mole. She was beautiful. Lara was her name.

One day her mole was gone.

Right before her wedding.

My mom loved her mole. She missed it. I know because she told me so many times during my childhood.

"It grew too much during my pregnancy with you so they had to remove it." She'd say as she'd take my finger and place it over the scar.

"Just like Cindy Crawford." She'd smile in complicity, as if I were now staring right at Cindy without her iconic mole.

I wonder if Lara's was also not benign, or if my staring and others' made it malignant.