Christine the Machine
A month ago, when deciding to hire Christine, Fern defended her choice to her friends. “Christine’s supposed to be the best in the area. Ok, well not the Curry Hill area exactly, but just three blocks away in K-Town. She’ll be great. I just know it.” That was then. This is now.
Christine rethreads herself.
The Indian girls chirp to each other nearby. Their sweet smiles and sing-song language make everything they say seem like funny gossip or an inside joke. It’s probably about me, Christine reasons. Loosen, trap, pull. Pull. Pull. Oh no. Thick hair. Be gentle. Let go. Try again. Ok. Loosen, trap, pull.
“Oh, I don’t know. Maybe I’ll just get a roast beef sandwich. Yeah right, just a roast beef sandwich. There’s no such thing. They’re as big as my head. Oh, it’s so hard to be near such a good deli on my lunch break,” the blonde says.
Loosen, trap, pull. Christine’s hands are tense. Her pinky finger is cramping. It didn’t used to be like this. At her old salon, she never had this problem. The sign was written only in Korean. The salon was on the second floor. And vitamin-popping Westerners with their fortified eyebrow hairs didn’t often venture up the stairs. But Fern had offered her more money. Double. An offer Christine could not decline.
“What does T.S. Eliot know about you?/He knows nothing in particular/But you talk and talk as if he do.”
Loosen, trap, pull. Loosen, trap, pull.
“No, maybe I’ll go get a five-dollar foot long. That’s more economical, and I can get something less fatty like turkey, no mayo. You know.” Still going.
Loosen, trap, pull. Chirping girls. Loosen. Trap. Rich, disappointed Fern. Pull. Pop. Damn it! “So sorry! So sorry!” Christine’s brow furls. Her cheeks burn with anxious embarrassment. She feels Fern’s glare burn a bald spot on her bent-down head. The blonde doesn’t open her eyes. She just keeps going, “You know that song? Five dollar foot lah-ong. You know from the commercial? Have you seen it?” Christine gives a short, quick nod. But of course, her client’s eyes were closed.
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