Uncle Reggie's perfect gift

"Autumn!" called Gwendolyn Frost up the stairway of her split-level home. "You've got
mail!"

The freckled teenager came downstairs toweling her auburn hair, and her mother
handed her a bright pink envelope. "A birthday card, I bet," her mother said.

Autumn slit the envelope with a butter knife and pulled out the card. A $5 bill fell to
the floor.

"It's from Uncle Reggie," she said, bending to pick up the money. "He tells me to buy myself the perfect gift."

"That's nice, dear," Mrs. Frost said. "Your uncle is a thoughtful man."

"Sure," Autumn replied, "but what kind of perfect gift costs $5?"

En route to the mall, she decided on a raspberry toffee latte her favorite coffee shop. Though perhaps not  what her uncle might have intended, it was under $5 and something she did love. But as she made her way through a department store to get to the mall's courts, she passed by a cosmetics counter.

"FREE COLOR ANALYSIS TODAY," a sign read, and the clerk, an elderly woman with heavily
powdered face, smiled and beckoned her over.

"What a beautiful young lady you are," the woman said as Autumn politely obliged. 

"Hello," Autumn said uncertainly, adding that she didn't really wear makeup.

"My dear," said the old woman, "that's because no one has ever told you how."

She took the cap off a tube of lipstick and gently took Autumn's hand, wiping a streak of color on the back.

"Everyone has a color that is just right for them," she said. "Yours does not work well for most people, but for you, it is perfect."

Autumn looked at her hand and had to admit the chosen color was pretty against her skin. And so unusual. It was red, yellow, brown, depending on the angle at which she considered it. And a misty sheen seemed to illuminate it.

"Wow," Autumn said, smiling as she turned her hand in the light. "How much is it?"

"It is $4.99, today only," the woman said.

"OK," Autumn said despite herself, as she fished Uncle Reggie's $5 from a front jeans pocket and dug for the change for sales tax.

When Autumn returned home that afternoon, she was surprised to see her Uncle Reggie's car in the driveway. Inside her house she found Reggie having cake and coffee with her mother.

"Hello love," Reggie said, rising as she entered the dining room. Autumn's mother did a double-take as her daughter approached to give her uncle a hug.

"Look at that lipstick!" Mrs. Frost said, frowning as she gave her daughter's face closer scrutiny. "It's... it's...so pretty."

"You look lovely," Reggie said as he put his arms around his only niece.

"The color is just right on you," Autumn's mother continued. "What's the name of it?"

"Name?" Autumn said. "I didn't even think to look."

She pulled the lipstick from the bag and turned it end up to read the bottom. Her mouth fell open. Reggie just smiled broadly as if he knew a perfect plan had come together.

The name of the color was her very own name. Autumn Frost.