multiplicity

I think I was 10 years old. I think I was in the 3rd grade. I know where I lived and I remember the bathroom. My mom wanted to be a photographer. She had a cheap camera. She said that there was a photo contest advertised in the paper. It had a $100 cash prize. The requirement for the picture was that it had to be three of the same image. Triple. 

I had long hair that went down to my bottom. My mom said that my hair belonged to her until I turned 14 years old. I was not allowed to cut it. She didn't even trim it. It was thick and brown and came to a long pointed V in the back.

She said that she wanted to take an "artsy fartsy" picture of me; naked. I was to stand in the bathroom, with my hair parted down the middle and coming down the front of me to the sides and over my shoulders, to cover my nipples. She brought in an extra mirror and tried to stand in a way that she would not be in the picture and to angle it just right so that there would be three of me. She took many photos of me. I didn't like being naked but I liked having my mom's attention. She kept telling me how pretty I was and fussing with the positioning of my hair.

Not too long afterwards I asked if I could see the photos. She said "No." And, to this day, I have never seen the photos. I asked her one other time if she won the contest and she said "No." She seemed mad at me when I asked her. So I never asked again.