It was frustratingly apparent that this dress wasn't working. She pushed at the bodice, grimacing as it flopped limply forward once more. Her gaze alternated between its sagging neckline and the box of facial tissue in front of her. With Gerald and his family coming over for dinner, she had wanted to impress in a dress that—for once—didn't come from the children's section.
Having the physique of a toothpick was simply unacceptable, regardless of her attempts to rationalize its benefits. Her mother's consolations of "willowy beauty" and "late blooming" flowed easily from a woman who had been well-endowed from the age of 11. By Archimedes' principle! She was a 14-year-old girl, not a horticultural exhibit…and in desperate need of some "buoyant force."
She sighed in resignation and set to her task. The turkey wasn't the only one getting stuffed tonight.
A/N: I heart Phoebe. From example of my friend/roommate/coworker of 4 years, a lot of girls of Japanese and/or Chinese decent (my gal pal is Japanese-Taiwanese) tend to not grow excessively tall or develop, erm, "large tracts of land," so to speak. I'm a big Polish gal myself (built for manual labor and, um, labor of another sort…), so every now and then, cup size would come up as the debate topic of choice during sushi and movie night.
I can see Phoebe maintaining her delicate physique as she gets older (which could make it rough when comparing herself to her mother's physique). Still lovely, but falling outside of the stereotypically tall/big-busted ideal that some still cling to. Thought it made for a fun short.
I don't own Hey Arnold. If I did, we would have had The Jungle Movie, The Patakis, Lil' Gertie and a slew of shows and films exploring these awesome characters. Plus, I would be rich. Very, very, very rich.