Christmas Extra

Making Up

"Erm... maybe," I gulped as I strode towards his swivel chair, trying to hide my nerves beneath a layer of obvious panic.
"First day on a set?" he asked, with a voice that slightly grated on me. Normally I loved northern accents but his was slightly too high pitched for me, especially at this time of the day.
"No," I answered, with more certainty than before. "Did a few days on a crime drama. Bit different to this though."
"Ah-ha!" he said, sizing up a stick-on sideburn which was bright white and incredibly tacky, not to mention way too bushy for my liking. "So it's your first time in drag?"
I nearly choked. "In drag?"
"You know what I mean. Dolled up in costume. Hamming it up."
I wanted to keep myself composed. "I mean I wore an overall last time, 'cos we were in a morgue."
"Well an elf outfit is way more fun," he said, as he grabbed a shaver and took my own small bit of hair away that was lurking under my right ear.
"We don't want to see your real hair. Most of it will be tucked inside the hat. Plenty of room in that thing," he said, nudging his head to one side in the mirror, revealing a very red, floppy looking hat resting on a shelf behind us.

"Can I come in?" The voice at the door was Beth. She had a clip board in her hand.
"Join the party," said the hairdresser, whose name I still hadn't gathered.
"Carl." She solved that problem straight away. "You know Tom is the last one to do and then we start right away."
"Have grab bag of goodies and am raring to go," Carl said with a coy smirk. "Touching up is my game."
"I bet it is, but that's another story," Beth giggled before standing behind me, looking at my face in the mirror. "I had been thinking a beard but actually, we can go for clean shaven."
I wasn't sure if I was supposed to comment.
"What dya think?" Beth went on, looking at my reflected face expectantly.
"Erm... yeh. Of course. I'm up for anything," I said quietly, with a rosy glow emerging across my currently make-up-less face.
"You have a great smile, Mr Elf. I hope we get to see a lot of that beam," she said cheerily before hearing a beep from her pager and racing out again.
"Be out soon!" came Carl's call as she fled.

A few minutes later I had rouged cheeks, incredible white, fluffy sideburns and a smart, moulded red hat perched neatly on top of my newly elvish head.