Entirely Inappropriate

Written for FOWC with Fandango.
The prompt word is “scandalous”;
this is my take.

The invitation arrived on crimson paper: “You’re cordially invited to the most scandalous soirée of the season.”

Darla’s hands trembled. Everyone knew about the Ashworth parties; they were whispered about in drawing rooms, clutched like secrets. Not scandalous in any tawdry sense, but deliciously subversive. Musicians who played jazz. Poets who recited verses about freedom. Women who smoked cigarettes and debated philosophy with men as equals.

“You’re not actually going?” her sister gasped.

But Darla was already planning her outfit. She’d wear the dress her mother called “entirely inappropriate” …. the one with the dropped waist and knee-length hem.

At midnight, she stepped into a world of golden lamplight and laughter. A woman in trousers argued about Picasso. People were dancing the Charleston. The punch was suspiciously strong.

“Scandalous, isn’t it?” a voice said beside her.

Darla grinned, feeling wonderfully, terribly alive. “Absolutely scandalous!”

The most rebellious thing she’d ever done was thinking for herself. And it felt magnificent.

This is “Jubilee Stomp – Royal Street” by Tuba Skinny