We all remember that day – the day we met a special person who would be involved in our lives for a long time. My good friend Serenity Fournier also remembers the day she met a girl who would change her life. Here is her story about a certain Power Ranger.
Hey Capricorn City readers. My name is Serenity Fournier and I’ve known James for almost twenty years now. Wow I feel old now. Whatever. So my old buddy told me about the site and how it’s open for people to tell their stories, and I’m always up for a good story – especially when I’m the one telling it. But my life wouldn’t be too fulfilling if it weren’t for the people in it. That’s why my first story for Cap City is about my best friend.
I’ll precursor this story by saying we didn’t start off as pals. In fact, I didn’t really like her at all. And here’s why. In 1993 I fell in love with the Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers like most of the kids of my generation. I’m sort of a tomboy who likes fighting and monsters, so seeing a bunch of costumed people doing karate and blowing up ugly monsters was right up my alley. By 1994 I was still in love with the MMPR and found a heroine in the Pink Ranger, Kimberly. She was girly, but kicked butt. To me she was everything a girl should be if the world was invaded with monsters and you had the power to switch into a cute costume and fight them alongside some good looking guys. It’s the American (Japanese) dream that’s for sure.
Idolizing Kimberly made for some certain tasks to be completed. The biggest was to dress like her. Now I never had the audacity of rocking those overall shorts she’d wear once in a while, but I loved her style. Remember that button-down shirt that’d show off her stomach and her 90s short pink shorts (OMG cute!). Okay, before I kill off James’ male demographic, let me get back to the story.
So I wanted to dress like the Pink Ranger. That meant I needed those oh so cute pink boots she’d wear. Thanks to my granny (I spent the month of my summers as a kid with my grandparents) I was able to get a pair of pink boots just like Kimberly. Instead of waiting for school, I had to break in my new boots. Running errands with my granny caused me to stop at the nearby CVS. That’s when I saw this girl staring at me. Even though I was just eight, I could tell this girl had a problem. Walking her way I heard her snicker like something was funny. So I asked her if she was okay because I know there must’ve been something else funny that didn’t involve me.
She asked me, “Who do you think you are, the Pink Ranger?”
I didn’t sense the sarcasm in her voice (I didn’t even know what sarcasm was at that point).
So happy that someone my age noticed what kind of look I was going for I say, “Yep!”
Then she replied, “The Pink Ranger sucks,” before walking away.
And there I stood almost dumbfounded. It was the closest thing I heard to blasphemy at that point. How dare someone talk bad about the Pink Ranger.
Another year passed and I still liked the Power Rangers (not as much since Jason, Trini and Zack were gone). My granny took me school shopping during my last week with her for the summer. During our trip, I just so happened to stumble upon the same girl who insulted Kimberly a year ago. And guess what. She had a Power Ranger backpack prominently featuring the Pink Ranger hanging from her shoulder. Hypocrite, much?
So I came up to her, tapped her on her non-backpack holding shoulder, and asked her, “Who do you think you are, the Pink Ranger?”
She didn’t hesitate to turn around and tell me, “Yep, and I got Tommy, too.”
I still remember the smirk she gave me afterwards like she knew she had one-upped me again. This time I walked away feeling a little defeated because she bested me in our verbal sparring session.
The summer of 1996 was a little different than summers past. I’d grown out of my Power Ranger phase thanks in part to Kimberly no longer being a part of the show. But what wasn’t different was running into the hypocrite during a seemingly normal errand run. Come to find out, she didn’t like the show anymore, either. With our competition of who was the best Pink Ranger imitator over, we were able to become friends and trade Trapper Keepers before I came back home to Richmond, VA.
Years later when I moved to Raleigh, NC, the hypocritical girl that would eventually become my best friend told me the reason why she didn’t like me the first time we met. Come to find out I wasn’t the only one obsessed with looking like Kimberly. My eventual friend also needed those pink boots to finish her clothing homage. When she went shoe shopping the one place that had the boots were sold out. Little did I know that I possibly bought the last pair before she could. The sales guy never said I got the final pair, so I don’t know if I really did buy the last pair. But that’s what she thought when she saw me. I bought away her chance to be Raleigh’s Kimberly.
So here’s to my best friend, Lisa. You’re the best Pink Ranger ever.
