The granddaughter unwraps the gift on her 15th birthday. “Awesome!” she exclaims, holding up red pleather pants to show her mother.

The mother flashes back to 1997—when she was forbidden to wear them to school but slipped them into her backpack anyway. She side-eyes the gift-giver.

The grandmother smiles.

Cindy Harum’s publications include winning six Hallmark greeting card competitions, in which her cards were sold in stores and online, as well as an honorable mention in a Writer’s Digest magazine contest. This is her first published short story.