Thursday August 6th, 2015

The exercise:

Write something that takes place in: the salon.

Inspired by Kat and Max getting haircuts this morning. Max, I gather, was much more of a challenge for the hairstylist than my wife. In fact they went to the park with Max sporting half a haircut before he was convinced to return to allow the job to be finished.

I am still trying to imagine his time at the park since, sadly, Kat didn't take any pictures.

In other news, the modular home is now on the foundations. The first half arrived yesterday, the other this morning. This afternoon they put the two pieces in place. Now the finishing work can begin (which is still quite a lot of work).

It's cool to finally see the new house though. We had a little walk around inside after dinner and I can't wait to see what it'll look like once everything is in place. The view from their future deck is going to be amazing.

Mine:

"Did you hear about Hazel?" The blonde in my chair turned to look at the girl next to her. "She actually kissed Evan! Can you believe it?"

"Oh my god," her friend replied. "That's, like, totally gross."

"I know, right?"

I ran a comb through her long hair once, then again, and one more time until I hit a tangle. Just as she opened her mouth to continue her gossiping I gave my comb a good, hard yank.

"And owwwwwww! Oh my god, watch what you're doing! Are you like, trying to pull my hair out?"

I mumbled an apology before gathering the back of her hair into a ponytail. I attached a clip to keep things in place and put my comb down. My hand lingered over my collection of tools, my fingers twitching slightly.

"And Olivia broke up with Brock this morning, did you hear?" She was back to blabbering as though nothing had happened. Maybe she'd forgotten about the tangle already. "Time to get a move on with that tall hunk of man, am I right?"

"Girl, you cannot wait. We should go over to his house as soon as we're done here."

"Offer him some real southern comfort, am I right?" Her giggle made me grit my teeth. "And then tomorrow I can swing by Tommy's house, make sure he's still not over me. Maybe get him to wash my car."

"Ooh, good idea! I totally saw a smudge on the hood this morning."

I picked up my shears and began trimming the tips of her ponytail. I told myself to remain calm, remain professional.

"Did you see what that cow Marilyn was wearing today? It was like she got dressed in the dark - in a thrift shop!"

Without another thought I shifted to the base of her ponytail and cut it off. The screaming started immediately. I tried not to smile, or even laugh, but it was hard to keep a straight face while thinking about what my daughter's reaction would be when I told her about what I'd done. Marilyn was going to love it.