Nail-Polish Pink
ZUZU AND I SPREAD THE NAIL-POLISH-PINK cloth over the card table and everything felt normal again. When a person reaches the age of thirteen, like me, they begin to understand the beauty of sameness. Zuzu and I had probably spread out the tablecloth for Sherrie’s Bonnie Mae cosmetic parties a dozen times, and today it made our new house feel even more like our home.
Later, we would greet guests and help seat them. Then the party would begin. Sherrie would have everyone put their name on a little slip of paper and put it in the nail-polish-pink jar. Sherrie would draw a name and, as a demonstration, that person got a free makeover.
When Sherrie was about to be done with the makeover, she would tell everyone the Bonnie Mae threefold key to true beauty. That was Zuzu’s and my cue to get the case of free samples. That was everyone’s favorite part, and Sherrie let us hand them out. Zuzu and I loved that part, too.
Then, Sherrie would reveal the makeover results and everyone would “ooh” and “aah” and she would tell the made-over woman she looked just like Jackie O. While everyone admired their friend’s new look, Zuzu and I would hand out order forms. Then Sherrie, Zuzu and I would busy ourselves so the women would have time to place their orders. Sherrie would tell them that they were the greatest group she had ever worked with and she always meant it. Then everyone would eat.
It was always the same, but because our house and everything else had shifted and moved to the mountains, it felt extra nice to hold the corners of the tablecloth with Zuzu and smooth it just like we had in Houston.
At seven o’clock Grandma Brooks and her friends knocked on the door. The gaggle of old ladies shuffled off to the parlor, and Zuzu and I helped them into the folding chairs.
After a few minutes, more women filed in, including Bella and her mom.
“Holly and Bella!” cried Sherrie, like they were long-lost friends she hadn’t seen for decades. “I’m so happy you could make it! Sadie, Zuzu, look who’s here!”
“Hi,” said Bella shyly. She looked different than she had earlier in the day in Palace Beautiful. She looked like all the color inside her had gone away. If I was going to do a portrait of her at that moment, I would have used empty-nothing white and just-plain black.
“I’m glad you didn’t get in trouble for being late earlier,” I said.
“I did get in trouble. I have to do all the dishes for the next week by myself, but my mom said I could still come to the party. She said she didn’t want the new neighbors to think we were unsocial.”
It seemed strange to me that Bella’s mom would base a punishment on what the neighbors would think, but that’s grown-ups for you. They don’t always make much sense.
Holly was wearing an outfit that looked like she was about to play tennis or serve lemonade to people playing tennis. Her skirt was pressed so that there were little straight lines creased on either side. She didn’t look a thing like Bella, and I wondered how they could possibly be related. Then I saw it. Holly looked at me and said hello. I saw a little piece of Bella around the corners of her mouth, and she had Bella’s honey-black eyes. I had never noticed them before because with a person like Holly, the first thing you notice isn’t her eyes or her smile, it’s what she’s wearing. I wondered why that was.
Even though we’d just moved into town, Sherrie was already making friends and there were a fair amount of people at the party. A lot of them where Grandma Brooks’ friends, but a surprising number were people Sherrie had already met in the neighborhood.
Sherrie was one of those people who seemed to know everyone instantly. I remember her talking with the checker at a brand-new grocery store a few years ago. They had been in line maybe five minutes when Sherrie was saying, “Well, Vivian, I hope your mother’s hip heals well and that your son can get back on his feet and out on his own. I feel for you, honey!”
When everyone was seated, Sherrie stood up in front of the group and the party went just like it always did in Houston.
Zuzu and I usually hung out in the kitchen or played a game in the back room until it was time for us to help. This time, we decided we wanted to sit by Bella and listen to Sherrie’s presentation.
When I sat down next to Bella, I whispered, “Are you okay?”
She reached over and slipped something into my hand. “It’s for Palace Beautiful,” she whispered so quietly, she was almost not talking at all.
“Shhhh!” hissed her mother, and Bella obediently turned her honey-black eyes to Sherrie. Holly instantly turned back to the presentation and smiled her perfect smile. I didn’t like her.
I opened my hand. It was another glass crystal like the one she had given me when we met.
“It’s perfect,” I said as quietly as I could. Then I whispered, “How many of these ladies do you think are ghosts?”
Bella smiled and some little spark inside her looked like Bella again.
“I was just wondering about that one right there in the lavender top.” She nodded in the lady’s direction. “I’ve seen most of these women in the neighborhood, but I don’t remember ever seeing her.”
“I was wondering about her, too,” I said. “You better write it down. Do you have your notebook?”
Bella took my hand and squeezed it. “Let’s be friends always,” she said.
“We already are.”
Holly gave Bella a fierce look and we stopped talking.
“Y’all have been one of the greatest groups I’ve ever worked with!” said Sherrie. “Okay, before I reveal Mrs. Floyd’s makeover result, I want to tell y’all the three most important things you’ll hear tonight.” Ladies shuffled with their purses, reaching for notebooks and pens. “I’ll wait till everyone’s ready because if you go away with anything tonight, I want it to be this.” The room got silent. “According to Ms. Bonnie Mae herself, the key to true beauty is threefold. One: apply liberally; two: cover completely; and three: blend, blend, blend. I hope everyone got that. Let’s say it together. One: apply liberally; two: cover completely; and three: blend, blend, blend.”
Zuzu and I took the cue and gave out the free samples. Zuzu was smiling bigger than she had since we left Texas. I knew she felt the comfort of the sameness like I did, even though she was only nine.
“And now for the moment we’ve all been waiting for,” said Sherrie. “Come on out, Mrs. Floyd!”
Mrs. Floyd came out from behind the wall that separated the dining room and the parlor. Everyone oohed and aahed.
“Doesn’t she look just like Jackie O!” Sherrie beamed, holding Mrs. Floyd by the shoulders. Mrs. Floyd looked bashfully at the crowd of friends, put her hand to her face and giggled. It looked to me like if she hadn’t applied liberally, covered completely and blended, everyone would see her cheeks turning spontaneous-combustion scarlet.
We could usually tell right from the beginning who was going to order and who was just there for the free refreshments. A few women, mostly housewives, usually ordered at least an Everyday Elegance Gift Set. Women with jobs usually ordered the Ms. Mae Career Color Palette. If there were teenage girls in the group, Sherrie could usually talk them into eyeliner or a lipstick from the Totally Mae collection—a line of cosmetics specially formulated for young women. As far as I could tell, “specially formulated for young women” meant that a lipstick costs five dollars instead of twelve.
“I’ll put it in Palace Beautiful tonight,” I said to Bella over carrot and celery sticks when the official demonstration was over and everyone was visiting and eating hors d’oeuvres.
“What?” asked Zuzu, coming up behind us with her little plastic plate heaped with cookies. I held out the crystal.
“Bella brought it for Palace Beautiful,” I said.
“Perfect!” Zuzu said. “Have you thought any more about where to start finding you-know-who?” she whispered, squinting to look mysterious, then stuffing a cookie into her mouth.
“I thought,” started Bella. She looked across the room at her mother, who was busy visiting with one of the older ladies. “That is, I think . . .” She looked at her feet.
“What?” said Zuzu, almost dropping her plate.
“I think I already found her.”
“Helen?” I said. It felt like the room disappeared and the only people left were us three. “Where?” I caught myself talking louder than I meant to. Bella’s mom looked over, and Zuzu and I both picked up carrot sticks and stuffed them into our mouths, trying to look natural. I’m sure it didn’t work, but she ignored us anyway.
“This afternoon, I was in my attic. I looked over and saw a light in yours,” said Bella.
“What kind of light?” asked Zuzu.
“It was like a candle, only brighter, and it floated across the room. I watched it for a minute, and then it was just gone.”
“Zuzu! What were you doing in the attic?” I said.
“Nothing! I mean I wasn’t in the attic! Maybe it was Dad or Sherrie.”
“They weren’t home, remember!”
We caught ourselves talking loudly again. This time, trying to act natural didn’t work. Bella’s mom set her plate down and walked over to us.
“Kristin,” she whispered sharply. She looked away from Bella and around the room with her big smile that seemed fake, although it was hard to say exactly why. “Time to go now,” she said, her teeth tightly together.
“But Mom!” said Bella.
“Kristin!” she snapped, still in a half whisper. “Don’t make a scene.”
I wondered where Holly had come from. I knew it wasn’t the Great Dog or the red birds. It’s always hard to tell where a person came from when they are trying to appear a certain way. Looks can be very different from what really is. All I knew was that I didn’t like the way she treated Bella. I had known her only a few days, but I knew what I saw.
“Thanks so much, Sherrie,” said Holly, picking up her purse while holding Bella by the arm. “Are you sure you don’t need help cleaning up?”
“No, thanks, Holly. I think the girls and I can handle it just fine. I’m glad you and Bella could come!”
Holly pulled Bella out the front door.
By ten o’clock, order forms sat in a messy pile on the dining room table, refreshment trays lay picked over and mostly empty on the kitchen counter, and Sherrie, Zuzu and I put everything away for next month.
“It looks like a good night, girls,” Sherrie said. “We probably pulled in three hundred dollars. Thanks for all your help.” She kissed us on our foreheads.
The evening had gone smoothly and predictably. The only difference was the way Sherrie walked to put everything away—slow and tired—and the way she kept taking breaks to sit down. She would try to sneak them in when she thought Zuzu and I weren’t looking.
“Is the baby moving a lot tonight?” I said, catching Sherrie in the act of sitting in the easy chair.
“Come on over here,” Sherrie said, so I walked to the chair. She took my hand and placed it on her belly. At first all I felt was the smooth cotton of her breezy-summer-white maternity blouse.
“Just wait for a minute,” she whispered. Suddenly, a bump arched across her stomach from left to right. “That’s the baby’s little back,” Sherrie said. “It’s turning over.” I put both hands on her round bump and felt the baby rolling around inside her.
“Wow!” I said. “What does that feel like?”
“At first, it was like a little goldfish swimming around in there,” said Sherrie. “Now . . . well, now it feels like . . . I guess it just feels like a person. An uncomfortable person just trying to get comfortable.” She smiled.
“Do you . . . do you ever have dreams about things?” I asked, sitting on the floor beside the easy chair.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean do you have dreams about the baby, me, Zuzu and Dad?”
“Sure.”
“What are they like?”
“Usually too silly to mention, like the one I had a few nights ago where we were all watching TV and I realized I’d made a snowman in the living room and forgotten about it and it was melting all over the place.”
I giggled. She did, too.
I kissed Sherrie’s stomach.
“It’s okay to be sad sometimes, Sugar,” she said.
“I know. It’s okay to be tired sometimes, too.”
She looked at me and smiled. “Who’s tired?” she said. She lifted herself off the chair and finished cleaning up. She was still radiant. I wondered if Jackie O. could hold up as well as Sherrie on nights like this. Maybe Sherrie was more like Jackie O. than Jackie O. herself.
When everything was put away, we said good night and dragged our exhausted bodies to bed. After I was sure Dad and Sherrie were down for the night, Zuzu and I hung up the crystal in Palace Beautiful. We were so tired that we didn’t even talk, and we each went straight back to our rooms. I fell asleep and dreamed of a light moving slowly across the attic floor.
