Make Up

Saturdays I visit my Dad. He picks me up in the morning, and brings me back home in time for dinner. I like Saturdays, because Dad is fun. Julia says her Dad is no fun. Julia's Mom and Dad live with her, and they fight all the time. When they fight Julia comes over to my house and we talk about boys. My Mom and Dad never fight. I think they used to fight when I was little, but not anymore.

Last Saturday was different. It started off rainy, and we had an okay day. My Dad wanted to go to the aquarium. I'd already seen the aquarium in Monterrey last year, but my Dad really wanted to go to the one in the Golden Gate park. The aquarium was part of this big museum, with other boring stuff like skulls and bones. But the aquarium was kind of cool. Then we went to the planetarium, and that was cool too. The lights went out, and the stars came out, and the guy showed us all these constellations and the big bear and Jupiter. Then we had a little picnic in the park. That was the best part. There were all these other kids and we played tag.

Then we had to go home. It was starting to rain again, and Dad said it was already getting late, and he was wondering if it was raining in San Jose too. When we were almost home, there was a big traffic jam on the freeway. Dad turned on the radio, and they said that there was a HazMat spill, and Dad said it was going to be long wait, and that it was such a shame because we were only a couple of exits away. I didn't know what HazMat meant, so I asked Dad. He said it was short for Hazardous Materials. He said it was like these really strong chemicals and acids that if you breathe them you'd die. So I checked all the windows to make sure they were closed. Dad was trying to call Mom, but his cellphone wasn't working. I asked him why it wasn't working, and he said that everyone else was also trying to use their cellphones, and I thought that was weird.

After an hour, I was really bored. Dad told me a great story about the time him and his friends had gone to Venezuela and they had been stuck in a river, and they had to get out and push the boat, and the next day when they were coming back, they saw like this really big water snake that could swallow people. Dad thought it was a funny story. I thought of getting out of the car to push it, and wondered if there were any snakes on the freeway. So then I started exploring the car. I found this CosBag, like Mom says, in the back seat. I asked Dad why he needed lipstick and what his favorite color was. For a minute he was like shocked, but then he said it wasn't his, and turned away.

I must've fallen asleep, because when I woke up, Dad was shaking me. They'd cleared the spill, and we were like moving really slowly, like a boat in the river. After a while, he said, We're home.

Mom was outside, and you could see she was really angry. She didn't have any shoes on, and the door was open, and the TV was on, and the sprinklers were on, and she was talking really loudly. Do you know what time it is? And how worried I have been? Couldn't you have called? She was asking my Dad, only she was talking so quickly, Dad couldn't answer all her questions. Also, he was trying to lock the car, but he'd pressed the red button by mistake, so the car alarm was going off, and the neighbor's dog started barking. So I started telling Mom that all the cell-phones on the freeway were not working, because everyone was trying to call her. When I told her that, she turned to me, and then stopped turning. What have you done to your face? She was screaming now. I had to go pee really badly. I ran inside, and went up to my bathroom, and washed and washed and washed my face, and then I started crying, because I didn't know why it was so bad to put lipstick on. When I went down, Dad had already left, and Mom wasn't angry anymore, and she hugged me and said she was sorry for screaming, and she told me that I was too young to put lipstick on, and because it was so late, we ordered pizza.