The Perfect Face

Kylie is beautiful, but she doesn’t know it. She thinks her nose is too big. She has curly black hair but she wants long blonde hair. She always wears a hat when she goes to work on the train. She doesn’t like people looking at her.  She thinks they are laughing at her nose. So she always reads a book on the train.

 

One Friday morning, Kylie is late. She usually catches the 7:05am train but she misses it. She has to catch the next train at 7:25. This train is more crowded. There are no seats, so Kylie has to stand all the way. She can’t read her book. There is a man standing next to her. He is looking at her. Kylie doesn’t like it. The man smiles and starts to speak to her. “Excuse me, I…..”

 

Kylie turns around so the man can’t see her face.

 

At last the train arrives in the city. Kylie gets off the train. As she walks up the road towards her office, she sees the man from the train. He is walking behind her. Kylie walks faster, but when she looks behind her, the man is still there. She is a little frightened, but it is 8am on a Friday morning, and she is in the middle of a big city full of people. There is no reason to be frightened.

 

At lunchtime, Kylie goes to the park. She always makes sandwiches in the morning and takes them to work to eat at lunchtime. She doesn’t go to restaurants. They are expensive and Kylie doesn’t have a lot of money. Her mother is sick and it takes most of Kylie’s money to pay for the doctor and the drugs her mother needs.

 

In the park, she finds a seat. She is happy eating her lunch and reading her book. Then suddenly, there is someone standing in front of her. It is the man from the train!

 

“I waited outside your office until you came out,” he says. “Then I followed you. I bought us some coffee. I hope you like cappuccino.” He gives Kylie a cup of coffee in a plastic cup.

 

“Go away!” says Kylie. “If you don’t, I’ll call the police!”

 

The man sits down next to her. “I’m sorry I followed you. But you wouldn’t speak to me on the train. And I really wanted to talk to you. I don’t follow young women, I am not that sort of man.”

 

“Why?”

 

“I work in advertising. My office just got a new job. It is for a Japanese company. Have you heard of New Ume-leaf Cosmetics? The company opened two shops here in America. They plan to open many more. So, they want to have a big advertising campaign on television and in fashion magazines.”

 

Kylie  knows about New Ume-leaf Cosmetics products, but they are too expensive for her.

 

“I don’t know why you are telling me this. Please go away,” she says.

 

“You have the perfect face,” says the man. “I want you to be the model for New Ume-leaf Cosmetics in America. You are so beautiful.”

 

“Me!” says Kylie. “You are crazy!”

 

The man laughs. He takes a business card from his pocket and gives it to Kylie. “Come to my company’s offices. If you won’t believe me, maybe you will believe the other people in my company. They will tell you that you have the perfect face and hair to be a famous model. Come with your mother or your father. You are very young and I don’t want you to be frightened. Also you get a lot of money if you do this.”

 

The man goes away.

 

Kylie sits and looks at the business card. She thinks that she will go to visit the advertising company. Kylie loves fashion and makeup. She dreams of having a small nose, long blonde hair and a lot of money to buy clothes. If she does this, she will have enough money to realize her dream.

 

 

Sally walked out of the hair salon. She was very happy. Her new, expensive hairstyle was very nice. She started to walk down the busy street. She was five minutes away from the car park. She looked at the sky.

Oh no! she thought. It’s going to rain! And I don’t have my umbrella!

 

Suddenly, large rain drops started to fall. She started to run. She was wearing high heels, so she could not run very fast. It started to rain harder. She decided to go into a shop and wait for the rain to stop. She stood in the entrance to a bookshop and waited. And waited. She looked at her watch.

Oh no! It’s 3:30! I have a very important meeting at 4:00! What am I going to do? I can’t wait here! she thought.

 

She looked for a taxi, but there were no taxis. She looked for a bus, but there were no buses.

And the buses don’t go to the car park, she thought. She looked at the sky again. It was very grey. She decided to run.

 

She stepped out of the shop entrance and into the street. She started to run. After 30 seconds, her shoes, her skirt and her coat were very wet. And her hair was very wet, too. She ran faster.

Then, she heard someone behind her.

 

“Excuse me! Excuse me!”

It was a man. She felt a little frightened. She did not stop. She continued to run.

“Stop! Please wait!”

Sally ran faster. The man was very close to her now.

“Please! Stop!”

She ran faster.

“Stop! Stop!”

She stopped and turned around.

“What is it? What do you want?” she shouted.

 

The man was around 40 years old. He was wearing a suit, and he was carrying a briefcase. He was a businessman. Sally was not happy. She felt angry, and she wanted to get to her car. The man did not say anything. He passed his umbrella to her.

Sally was very surprised. She took the umbrella.

“Thank you!” she said. But the man did not hear her. He just ran away.

 

Sally watched him. Then, she walked to her car under the umbrella. Sally got to the car park and found her car. She got in her car and closed the door. In the car, she brushed her hair. She looked in the mirror and carefully styled her hair again.

 

Sally drove out of the car park and onto the main road.

 Who was that man? she thought. And why did he give me his umbrella? He was so kind. I want to say ‘thank you’, but I can’t.

 

She looked at the sky. She could see the sun behind the clouds. And in front of her, there was a rainbow. Sally looked at the rainbow and smiled and said “Thank you!”

Across town, the man was walking back to his office. He looked at the sky and saw a rainbow. He smiled and said “You’re welcome!”