The Counter 

The sound of something crashing, even something small, echoed in the main atrium of the department store. Mindy had only walked away from the makeover for a moment to help a young woman. In that hair of a second, the customer had taken it upon herself to add some eye-shadow to the areas under the eye.  Not a huge sin in the cosmetic counter world,but when the loose samples slid out of the palette rendering them useless, it didn’t seem like the brightest of ideas. Mindy had to take a deep breath, then another one.

The look of sorrow on the woman’s face made the last breath short and soothing. The woman went one about her life and desire to have an interesting mid-life crisis.  She talked about her ex-boyfriend who raced motorcycles and hated Harley Davidson.  She labored over each imaginary choice working Mindy for any suggestion, any suggestion at all that would make this time of her life interesting and fun but still leave her appearing like the responsible single mother she had always strived to be, despite every other word that had come out of her mouth.  She wanted to be this or that, but never one of those people  No mention of her precious babes. She didn’t want to appear irresponsible, yet, she did nothing about the powdered mess spread out at her feet.

She used Mindy, a girl barely out of high school, like a tenured bartender and didn’t even leave a tip when she finally abandoned her stool two minutes before closing. She did look fabulous  and with that Mindy smiled.

Today’s sketch was inspired by a trip the cosmetic counter at local department store.  This is the fourth character sketch I have started and the second that I have finished. As with the first, Saturday Morning Sketch, I started with an idea and just let it take me where it wanted. Hope you enjoy it and as please let me know what you think.