Eyebrows

Matilde, a beautiful woman in her 30's is obsessed with her married lover Tamer. She is self absorbed, misguided and riddle with self doubt.

“ Only Josie is allowed to touch my eyebrows. She managed to turn thick unruly brows into an absolute work of art.”

-Matilde

Josie gave Matilde the handheld mirror, and she took a discriminating look. “Perfect! As always, Josie!”  Matilde loves her eyebrows; she is very proud of them. They are meticulous and impeccably groomed, not a hair out of place. Not one too many or one too few,  shaped into a regal and well-measured arch….just perfect.  Matilde has been seeing Josie for almost 30 years now, and even though Josie is now retired, Matilde told her she would come to her house off the island on the South Shore and that this would continue until the day one of them dies. The few times Matilde trusted her grooming to someone else, it was a complete disaster; once, it was mediocre at best.

Image is important to Matilde.  She scrutinizes every feature of her body. She cares so much about being well maintained that she even goes to the dentist for teeth cleaning every other month. It's an expense she just absorbs. It's part of her never-ending grooming ritual. She is not sure where this desire to be perfect stems from, but it's been going on for as long as she can remember. It started at the age of twelve when she started to merge into her beauty. Matilde realized that she had something special going on, and she wanted to tend to it like a prized flower. It started with clothes, hair and teeth. At the age of 12, she had a  long bathing schedule that would take her an hour, and she would end the ritual with baby powder to smell good. She loved that all the kids would actually comment on how good Matilde smelled. A year later, she discovered perfume. She was old enough to wear it at 13; it was Bal a Versailles, her favourite.  A nice powdery sweet scent well suited for a young girl.  Teeth should always be clean and breath fresh. She started to carry around with her a toothbrush and toothpaste and would brush her teeth at school. She was, of course, the only kid who did this. 

Her hair was always trendy; Matilde would go to grown-up salons and would always have fashion-forward hair. 

As an adult, her hair is always trimmed. Her eyebrows, as mentioned, are impeccable, her teeth fresh, her nails are short and clean, and her skin flawless and free of unwanted hair. Regular chemical peels with dermabrasion facials and prescription retinol face creams, and she looks vibrant and 10 years younger than her age. Or at least that is the look she is going for. And for what? Does anyone even notice? Maybe this is what makes up her overall aura.

Of course, her clothes are another topic.

Lately, she has been depressed and exhausted. She had to talk to her doctor. He prescribed some antidepressants to help with her low mood. Since she has not spoken with Tamer in a long time, she has no one but herself to occupy the time in her head. She needs the excitement of Tamer to distract her from her depression. Her days feel long, but nights are longer; she sleeps 10 to 12 hours a night. She knows this is not normal; her doctor referred her to the sleep clinic to see if there is anything physically wrong, or is this just depression? It's hard to tell at this point. She never feels fully awake. This is awful. Something has to give. She reaches out to Tamer, and he actually has time to respond; he has been very busy with his new business ventures in Dubai. She told him that she missed talking to him and had lots to catch him up on. Would he have time to read it all in an email? Tamer enthusiastically said, “Yes, please do!” It took Matilde a few days to construct the perfect email. She took her time and thoughtfully wrote, trying to be informative, smart, yet light-hearted. Happily, she sent off the email, and alas, of course, he never replied. She thought this much that he would not reply.