Page 34 of Matteo
Plopping the phone in the back pocket of the dark colored jeans I wore, I got back to cleaning. Once I was satisfied with the space and how it looked, I waved the woman over.
Noting the time, I figured this wouldn’t take any longer than two hours. She plopped into my chair and I placed a pink cape decorated with an outline of a mermaid around her neck.
As I dragged a comb through her tresses, I watched as she visibly relaxed and we chatted about a few mundane things like the shape and style of her hair.
Before I knew it, everyone was exiting the shop and leaving for the night. It left just me and the woman whose name I’d forgotten to get.
Not even worrying about it, I became lost in the process of doing my job.
Manipulating hair and bending it to my will was my superpower.
We went over to the shampooing station next, and I began to work fingers through her hair. The coils of her hair under the running water turned white as I scrubbed her scalp gently. Quietness seeped into the building, a slight hum from outside.
“This feels so awesome,” she smiled with her eyes closed.
“My dad’s mom was a hairdresser in North Carolina. I used to love spending time with her, she would wash me and my sister’s hair when we went there. Or when she’d come visit us here.”
“That sounds so lovely,” her eyes fluttered.
“It was, we haven’t seen her in a while. She’s due to come out here in a few months or so.”
“You know, I wondered if this would be weird,” her eyes fluttered open again and our eyes locked.
“You wondered if what would be weird?”
She gave a little shrug as the suds washed from her strands, going down the drain like a tornado of soap.
Easing her up, I wrapped a small towel around her head.
“It’s just…well Justin…”
“Who?”
“My husband, Justin. He explained to me about you a long time ago.”
My heart began to beat rapidly, and it felt as if someone had dashed cold water over my body. I stilled as if under some sort of spell.
She didn’t even seem to notice and carried right on with talking.
“I wasn’t going to mention it, but I just feel so silly. So extremely silly in thinking that you might still want my husband all these years later. I feel so dumb.”
My words had caught within my throat and finally I found the courage to speak. “Leave!”
She stopped talking, her hands holding the towel tightly on her head. Small rivulets of water washed over her face causing her to look like a drowned rat with lashes. “What?”
“You heard what the fuck I said. Get out of my goddamn shop.”
The good pastor’s wife stood then, her face becoming stone like. Her body went rigid and tight, as she lifted her nose into the air trying to seem above it all. “He said you’d react this way. Like a jealous snake. He told me not to mention it.”
All I could see was red.
“Your husband is a sicko…get the fuck out of my shop!”
I found myself pulling her out of the chair while she protested. Picking up the purse, I pushed her and it out of the door.
She was standing on the sidewalk, wet hair and all, the cape still around her neck. Fuming.
I literally didn’t give a shit.
