On the nose about Christmas spirit
Marizel, who works in cosmetics at a retail outlet, spent the day telling her work friends about her Christmas wish. Most of her hard-earned money went to her makeup collection. She owned hundreds of eye-shadow palettes and spent hours looking at herself in the mirror, hoping one day to afford cosmetic surgery. She had makeup brushes of every size, colorful shades of blushes, bullet lipsticks of various hues and false eyelashes the size of spiders.
When she got home from work, Marizel went straight to her sister’s room.
Raquel was sitting at her study desk, reshuffling and placing her K-pop card collection into large three-ringed binders. The Korean pop group Monstra X was her main obsession, and Raquel spent many hours ordering and selling little picture cards from all over the world.
“I want a rhino,” Marizel said, coyly. “Crackhead, why do you want a stinky zoo animal? You know Pops doesn’t like animals.”
Marizel let out a raucous laugh that boomed throughout the house.
“Rhinoplasty, you crackhead!”
Pops, their stepfather, was in his study reading the latest New Yorker. He spent Fridays reading and jotting notes from articles and stories so he could later cite them in his monthly op-eds for the newspaper. The girls called him “Pops” because he was always popping out of nowhere. Pops helped Marizel with her college homework and often asked why her room reeked of cranberry and vanilla, to which she countered the same reason his room stank of Old Spice and that soapy Irish Spring.
One day, at dinnertime, Marizel popped the question.
“Can I get a rhino for Christmas?”
Pops furrowed his eyebrows, puzzled. Marizel pointed to the bridge of her nose with her manicured fingertips to explain her request.
“Out of the question,” countered Belinda, their mother and a nurse.
Raquel chimed in, “Eat your fake burger, Marizel. You’re not getting a rhino — ha, ha!” She was the logical one who rarely asked for anything for
Christmas — except cold, hard cash.
Christmas for them was about giving back to the community by collecting food cans and clothes for the needy. Belinda and Marizel collected discarded stuffed animals, and washed and recycled them to be distributed to children at the ER. Pops wanted them to understand that giving was better than receiving and they should be grateful for the roof over their heads and the food in the fridge. Belinda contributed to the lecture by saying, “Be grateful to God who gave you your face — don’t change things the Lord has given you!”
“Amen!” Pops said.
“Yup,” Raquel added.
After a long while, Marizel smiled and said, “Forget the rhino, Pops. Get me a Peloton!”
“What’s that?” Pops uttered, as he cut a slice of cherry pie Belinda baked.
“It’s an exercise bike,” Raquel answered. Pops asked the inevitable: “How much?” Marizel smiled and said, “I think a rhino is cheaper!”
Raquel cracked, “Maybe we should just take the rhino for a walk for some Christmas caroling.”
They all laughed. It was Christmas week, and spreading good cheer was the order of the day.