She hadn’t surfaced for a full ten minutes
With bated breath, I waited
Curiosity besting me as I rapped on the door
A giggle from within
“Wait a little longer”
How could I?
My foot vibrated with impatience
On the worn, gray carpet that disappeared
Into the tile beneath the threshold
Muffled scraping, a drawer clanged shut
And then the handle
Jerked, hesitantly turning
My wooden barricade inching open
Her fingers crawled around the door frame
“You can come in now,” she whispered
Her voice quivering with laughter
Hustling inside, door barely closed
She whirled to face me
My laughter erupted
A dozen make-up jars, bottles, tubes, vials
Littered the counter
In various states of emptiness and mess, contents
Now arranged in splotches of colour
All over my sister’s face
Tears streaming down my cheeks, she grinned
Multicoloured whiskers, stripes ran down her chin
Our laughs bubbled like frothing waves, ‘till
We heard footsteps creak the stairs
We rummaged ‘round the room
And finally found a wipe and
Smeared colours across her smile
Footsteps approaching, my heart beat as fast
Her face, clean enough, just a streak of red
“What are you girls doing?”
“…Getting ready for bed.”