My Sister Gets a Make-Over

by Carolyn McGovern

My sister’s new hair-do is matronly, sprayed into a bouffant, not suited for her 38-year old head. I want to tell her that that her face has too much blush, too much eye shadow. Her lips are bright red, pursed together into that mad face she had whenever we discussed politics. So many people have come to see her today, her popularity the thing that used to get me mad, so opposite of me. Her husband asks, “She’d like it, right?” He is not accustomed to coffin shopping for his wife, and so I assure him, “Yes, yes, she’d like it very much.”

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Carolyn McGovern is a former probation officer, currently at work on her memoir. She has been published in Shine, Clever, Cynic, Storyglossia, and several other publications. She lives in the suburbs of Manalapan, New Jersey.