Slicker

came in a pink, orange and white striped metal tube, with a black curlicue border and a splayed gold base.   It came in any number of mod shades: Nippy Beige, Chelsea Pink, Poppycock, Hot Nec- taringo, Pinkadilly, Dicey Peach.   There were several tubes in my mother’s makeup drawer in the bath- room five out of six of us used (my father had his own bathroom, as forbidden as the walk-in closet where his Playboys were hidden under a stack of sweaters on the top shelf).   All the girls at school had Slicker in their purses; I watched them apply The London Look at the beginning and end of each class.   I marveled at what else spilled out: compact, mascara brush, eye shadow, wallet, troll doll, dyed rabbit’s foot, chewing gum, tampon, pink plastic comb.   At home I stared at myself in the medicine cabinet mirror and, as my brother pounded on the locked bath- room door, twisted a tube and rubbed, ever so slightly, Slicker on my lips.