huh

huh?

lipstick, eyeliner, blush and bronzer. 

she stands there, in the flourescent lit aisle.  stubby feet, ragged toenails glued to the floor.  girls pass by her, grabbing several shades of lip gloss.  With a few giggles, they choose one and the giggles turn to full blown laughter.

tweezers, emmory boards, cuticle remover

she starts to pick up a shade of polish, looks at her rugged stained nails and quickly pulls back. a mother swings her cart down the aisle, slobbering infant in the seat and whinning toddler hanging on to the front.  she quickly grabs her foundation of choice and rolls back out to the next thing on the list.

moisterizer, tanner, exfoilate, peels

Becoming frustrated, she compares the conditioner labels and her hair ends.  heavy heels click against the aisle floor.  A suit, breathlessly argued on her phone reaches right past her to the designer bottle.  Tossing it into her basket, she can still hear her argue as she passes the endcap.

hairspray, mousse, straightner, hot oil

realizing she spent almost an hour in the aisle, she walks slowly through the store.  She waits in line, behind a size 2 with long, shiny brown hair.  She reaches up to her tangled mess, and sweeps a stray behind her ear.  She places her lone item on the checkout belt.  The customer before her collects her change and newly purchased two piece as the cashier scans her bottle of generic brand soap. 

"did you find everything ok?" the cashier smiles. 

"um, yes. Thanks."

At home, she does her nightly routine of face washing and teeth brushing.  After spitting and rinsing, she looks up at the mirror and wonders where all those lines came from.  She tosses her toothbrush into the plastic cup on the counter, and opens the vanity drawer.  She digs through the full bottles of lotion, cans of hardly used hair products for the lone hairbrush she owned.  A few sweeps revealed no find, she shrugs and turns off the light. 

Laying in bed, clad in only a t-shirt and cotton briefs, she wonders why she can't be like them.  Can't be more like a girl, a lady.  Maybe I'll start reading those beauty magazines.  Her being the oldest, she didnt have an older sister like her friends, to teach her how to put on eyeliner and that powder stuff to keep the shine down.  Her mom was always working, and stuck in the eighties.  She never asked her to show her how to french braid or how to curl her hair.  The first time she shaved she cut a deep chunk out of her shin.  She learned about sex through her dad's easyrider magazines in the basement.  She'd rather watch a good bang shoot em up than a sappy love story.  She takes a good beer and burger instead of salad and tonic.  She can belch louder than the guy at the end of the bar, and clear out a whole row in a movie theater with one round of indigestion.  She rolls over and falls asleep.

Reviews

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This is wonderful writing.
keep up the good work