Charlie's Make-Up

I worked in the mall
And that's where I met Charlie

In the mall

Well, in the Nordstrom's

I worked at the make-up counter

Back then there was this make-up line
Called 'Fox Tail'
And it was--

Well, the idea was
That it was make-up for men

'Fox Tail--Make-Up for Men'

And, as you can imagine
It didn't last very long

The idea wasn't to paint men up to look like dolls or anything
Just to sort of--highlight their best features

Very natural looking kind of stuff

Mostly just base and some eye-liner

But see, my job
Was to do make-overs
Right there at the counter

And, as you can imagine
Not many men are all that willing
To sit in the middle of a department store
And have some woman put make-up on them

Even in Los Angeles

The problem was my boss
Expected me to do so many make-overs a day
And obviously I couldn't say that men don't want to wear make-up
Because the motto of 'Fox Tail--Make-Up for Men'
Is--

'For Men Who Want to Wear Make-Up'

One day I was really losing it
Because my manager kept eyeballing me
Since I hadn't done a make-over
In two days
And so I pretended to drop something
So I could duck down below the counter
And cry for a minute
While biting into my hand
When I heard someone say--

'Are you all right?'

And it was Charlie

He was cute

I don't know if anyone's told you that
But he was
He was really cute
And just really kind, you know?
He had really kind eyes

I told him about the make-up
And the make-overs
And how I was probably going to lose my job
And then I realized
I was pretty much spilling my guts
To a total stranger
But, I don't know
Charlie was just someone you could do that to, you know?

He let me do his eyes
So my manager would see
And then he said he'd be back tomorrow
And he was

I don't know if he worked
While he was in L.A.
But he came back a bunch of times
And every time
He'd let me do make-overs on him
Little ones, you know
But enough to keep me afloat

One time he even had his friend
Who worked at this magazine store
Come in
And Charlie said--

'Do his lips
He has frog lips'

And the guy punched Charlie in the arm
But like, in a friendly way
And we all laughed
And then I did the guy's lips
Because they really were pretty terrible

One day Charlie came in
And told me that he was leaving L.A.
And I was pretty upset about it
But L.A.'s just kind of one of those places, you know
Where, like, nobody hangs around for very long
Unless they hang around forever
And that's not really a good thing either

He told me that he came into some money
And so now he could go back home
With more confidence
But he didn't tell me where the money came from

I asked him if he wanted a make-over for the road
And that's when he put down the money

A stack of one hundred dollar bills

I thought I was going to pass out

'Charlie,' I said--

But then he held up his hand
Leaned over the counter
And said--

'You can either take this five grand and get out of this department store, or you can give me five thousand dollars worth of make-up.  It's up to you.'

I think five thousand dollars
Could have bought
The entire 'Fox Tail' line
But I didn't say that

Instead, I took the stack of bills
Walked around the counter
Gave Charlie a big kiss on the lips
And walked right out of the department store

And I never went back

A week later
The 'Fox Tail' line went under
Which is probably why
Nobody from the store
Ever called to see
Why I wasn't coming into work anymore

I used the five thousand
To start my own cosmetics line
And it's become pretty successful

Every once in awhile
I show up at some department store
And offer to do free make-overs

Everybody at the company
Thinks it's just a pr thing
But it's really just so I remember
Where I came from

I never did see Charlie again
But I'm reminded of him a lot

I named the company 'Charlie's'

If that sounds like a happy ending, well
That's because it is