A Girl Named Dora Maar

For as long as she could remember, Dora’s mother had said, “Wash your face every night before bed, and your skin will last a lifetime.”  Dora was diligent in her skin care.  Every night she would gently wash away the day’s dirt and makeup.  She’d pull her hair into a ponytail and sweep the stragglers back with a headband.

She’d soap up a small towel with moisturizing soap and carefully wash her face.  Once the makeup was off, she followed with a quick scrub, a soothing toner and plenty of night cream.  She had the loveliest, healthiest, least break-outiest face of everyone she knew.  Her mother would have been so proud.

Every night the same routine - no matter the time, no matter if she was traveling, no matter how tired she was - every night the same routine.

One Tuesday night, she pulled her hair into a ponytail and swept the stragglers back with a headband.  She soaped up a small towel with moisturizing soap and began carefully washing her face.

Slow circular swirls on her cheek bones, across her brow, up her neck and around her jaw.  She applied a little extra pressure over her nose and around her mouth.  The she closed her eyes and gently rubbed across her eyelids, eye brows and lashes...just as she had done thousands of times.

With her eyes still closed, she dropped the small towel into the sink and began splashing water onto her face.  Clean, cold water stung her cheeks and rinsed off all the soap.  

She slowly opened her eyes to inspect her work and admire her squeaky clean skin.  But to her surprise, she’d washed off one whole eyebrow.  There it was - clinging to the side of the sink - about to go down the drain!

“Oh!,” she cried, “What have I done?!?”

She turned off the water and fished out the eyebrow, being careful to keep in all in one piece.

Dora was frightened, and not quite sure what to do.  She couldn’t go around with just one eyebrow!  

She decided she would try to glue it back on.  That didn’t work.  She thought maybe she could shave off the other eyebrow to match, but that seemed extreme.  Seriously, that would just look ridiculous.  Maybe she could wear an eye patch - at least for tomorrow.

The next night Dora took off the eye patch and began her routine.  She was very careful aound her missing eyebrow area, but not careful enough.  After rinsing her face, she saw her other eyebrow in the sink!

Dora was getting worried.  Of course she couldn’t wear two eye patches, so she decide to draw her eyebrows where they belonged - at least for tomorrow.

The next night Dora pulled her hair into a ponytail, swept back the stragglers with a headband, and began her routine.  She had to scrub a little harder to wash off her drawn-on eyebrows.  After rinsing her face, she opened her eyes only to discover that one eye had fallen into the sink.  Now, it wasn’t her whole eyeball, it was more like a flat picture of her eye, complete with makeup and eyelashes.  Her other eye slowly looked up into the mirror, and she saw that - where her other eye should be - she only had a blank space on her face.

She was truly worried and a bit concerned.  But she decided that she would draw her eyebrows and her missing eye where they belonged - at least for tomorrow.

By Saturday night Dora had lost two eyebrows, one eye, her nose, her lips and the color in her cheeks.  She tried as best she could to draw those features on her face where they belonged, but she was having a really hard time.  

On Sunday, she’d had enough.  She decided that she would go to an artist and ask that her two eyebrows, one eye, her nose, her lips and her cheek be permanently and professionally drawn on her face.  She found an artist - someone named Picasso (or something like that) - and he was happy to help her.

Dora was very pleased with his work, as was he.  In fact, he decided to paint her picture.