“Mascara isn’t make up.”
“Oh, uh huh, mascara isn’t make up. “
“It’s true. Kijra, tell him mascara isn’t make up.”
Kijra didn’t hear me though. She had turned the music back up, lost interest in what was going on back in the bucket seat. But Joey jumped in to say, “I don’t know how you can stand that shit on your eyes. It’s so close to your pupils and everything. Ick.”
That was true, come to think of it. I had never seen Joey in mascara. Or lipstick, or eye shadow or anything. I thought about it some more, and tried to picture Joey, with her short brown hair and boy clothes wearing lipstick, and found myself laughing out loud.
“What’s so funny?” Both Ziggy and Paul said at once.
“The image in my head of Joey in lipstick.”I could tell they were both picturing it for a moment, and both of them started laughing too.
“What?” Joey turned around and glared accusingly at us.
“You in lip stick.”
“What’s so funny about that?” She glared harder.
“Nothing,” all three of us said at once.
And we all stopped laughing too. And we waited for her to turn back around before snickering again at the image but she knew instantly and turned around again and said, “What? Just because I don’t parade around like a stupid Barbie Doll like most of you girls you think that’s funny?”
“No.”
Kijra finally showed interest in what was going on, turned down the radio, and said, “No, mascara isn’t make up, Ziggy.”
“Why not? That’s absurd.”
“No, it makes perfect sense. Make up is the stuff you put on your skin. Mascara goes on the eye lashes.It’s just and enhancement technique.”
“An enhancement technique? You mean like make up.”
“No. It’s a completely different thing,” she said, and then she turned quickly to Joey and said, “Oh yea, and you would look completely ridiculous in lipstick, Joey.”
“I agree,” said Namar.
And then Kijra lit one of her clove cigarettes, turned the radio up and began blowing smoke rings.
“Why?” Joey pursued.
But nobody would answer, everyone just got quiet, and then we arrived at our destination, a Bogie and Becall movie in Madison.
