As I disappeared into my bedroom to get dressed, Mom called after me. “And hurry up! Because we have to do something about your hair, too.”
* * * * *
“Owwww!” Mom didn’t even look up from the magazine she was reading in the salon chair next to mine. Behind her, a stylist was setting her hair in giant curlers. “Stop squirming, Audrey.”
“It’s not my fault. She’s the one burning me.” I pointed to the woman straightening my hair.
All of the women in my family have the same tightly curled hair. Mom’s was dark but Ella and I shared the same reddish brown that my dad has. And yet, they always seemed to have figured out a way to tame their hair. My hair had a mind of its own. It was kinky, curly, and wild. As long as it stayed out of my way, I usually just let it be. My go-to style had always been pulled back in a puff or forced into a messy bun on top of my head.
But after shopping at Macy’s, Mom said she had made an appointment with her salon for the two of us. When we got there, it turned out she had already planned for me that I needed to have a blowout. So here I was, sitting in the salon chair while the stylist tried to force my hair to behave with a flat iron set on the demon setting and an arsenal of hair products. This was not how I had expected to spend my Sunday.
And on top of all of that, I still had a queasy feeling in my stomach from my last run-in with Miss Fine. I kept replaying her ripping up that check in my head. It’s not like I couldn’t get my dad to write me another check. And this time, I would take it right to the accounting office to get it credited to my account.
But what was the point? Paying my dues alone wasn’t going to get me out of this. The only way out was through Miss Fine and she had made it clear that she would do anything in her power to make sure I lost my license.
“Mom,” I heard myself say. “Do you ever miss—” I paused and looked up at the hair stylist. “—working?” I finished. It’s hard talking about Super stuff in public. Secrecy was in the oath.
For the first time since we’d been seated in our chairs, Mom looked up from her reading. She raised an eyebrow. “Working-working?”
“Yeah. Do you miss it?”
“No.” She went back to reading her magazine.
“C’mon, Mom.”
“I worked for more than twenty years. I enjoyed my assignment. I enjoyed the work. And I think I was good at it and I did a lot of good. But that was one part of my life and it’s over.”
“And you don’t feel different now that you’re not doing it anymore?”
She shook her head. “No. I have other things to do now. It’s not as if it was the only thing good about my life. The job is something that I did but it’s not all that I am. I’m a mother. I’m a wife. I am someone who is passionate about social issues. I have hobbies. I’m not just a . . . worker. I’m a lot of things.”
Hmm, I thought. If I’m not a Super, what am I? I couldn’t answer that so I was glad when the stylist turned me around to the mirror to see my hair.
My hair was bone straight. I didn’t recognize the person staring back at me in the mirror. It looked like I was wearing a really nice wig. I ran my hands through it and the silkiness of it shocked me. That hair automatically elevated my whole persona. The person looking back at me looked like she had a perfectly organized closet, did yoga, and didn’t even know what a Super audit was. Basically, everything I’d never be.
I could only think of one thing to say. “Whoa.”
Behind me the stylist looked tired and sweaty. Her smock was askew and her hands had a tremble that wasn’t there when we started. “Ma’am,” she started, referring to my mother. “I’m sorry but we’re going to have to charge you extra. This was—” she paused as if searching for the right word— “unusual.”
Mom pulled out a credit card from her wallet. “Completely worth it.”
Chapter 13
I’ve heard that changing up your appearance could really change your attitude. It’s not like I would know. I’ve had the same tee shirt and jeans wardrobe and wild hair for as long as I could remember. But experiencing this amazing new hair was making me a believer. On the subway ride home, I found myself taking peeks of my reflection in the windows and flipping my hair obnoxiously. Three separate people changed their seats to get away from my foolishness.
I’d promised Mom that I would go home, take care of my hair, and get a good night’s sleep before the photoshoot. But this hair was too good to waste on a night in front of the TV. I should go do something, I thought. When I’m not a Super anymore, I’m going to have time to live life and I might as well get started now.
I got off at the train at Court Street and decided to go to a movie. I’d be in the dark for most of the time but more people would see my hair than if I’d just gone home. Baby steps, you know?
As I bought my ticket, got my snacks, and found my seat in the half empty theater, I found myself imagining all of the things I’d do when I wasn’t working as a Super. I would go to the movies. I’d get a hobby. I might even get my hair done every week and be one of those girls with straight hair and ironed clothes I see on the subway all of the time. I could be one those girls.
The lights went down and the previews started. I’d chosen a spy thriller because the only other options had been a cartoon, a movie with a talking dog that drove a bus, and some tearjerker about kids with cancer starting a business. It was an easy choice.
The previews were all for similar action movies. I rolled my eyes when the latest superhero franchise movie trailer rolled across the screen, promising more action and bigger stakes than ever. Yeah, right. It’s always all about saving the world. But who is gonna save you?
Finally, the picture started and I leaned back in my seat to enjoy a relaxing two hours at the movies. But something caught my eye in the dark theater. There was a flash of light, like someone fired up their cell phone. It was gone in an instant but it drew my attention to the short guy in the big coat directly in front of me, two rows up. That’s a heavy coat for this weather,I thought. It was getting cool out but winter was still a couple of weeks away.
And then I saw why he was wearing such a heavy coat. He pulled a video camera out of the coat and aimed it at the screen. He was recording the movie.
I leaned forward to get a little closer to him. “Hey!” I whispered as loud I could and still be whispering. “Hey!” I whispered a little louder. The guy turned around and gave me the stink eye. He turned back to the screen.
“Hey,” I said even louder. “Put that away. It’s illegal.” The guy turned around again. “Leave me alone, bitch!” Someone shushed from the rows behind me. What am
I doing? What does it matter if he films it and sells bootlegs? This isn’t my job anymore. I tried to go back to watching the movie. I ate a few pieces of popcorn. I finished my soda. I concentrated hard on the muscle bound guy on the screen, running through the streets of some major city I’d missed the name of. But I couldn’t do it. My eyes kept fluttering back to the guy recording the movie two rows ahead of me.
I couldn’t take it anymore. I stood up and walked down to his aisle. Leaning over, I said “If you don’t put that away, I’m going to go get a—.”
“Ma’am?” I turned around and was immediately greeted with a bright light shining in my face. It was the usher. “Ma’am, you’re going to have to come with me.”
* * * * *
“Have a nice day, ma’am.” The pimply faced usher who couldn’t have been more than sixteen escorted me out of the theater and onto the street. After being removed from the theater, I tried to explain to him and the theater manager that someone was bootlegging the movie. The usher went back to check but couldn’t find anymore. And by that time, I’d made such a commotion that the manager asked me to leave.
Out on the street, I wonder how I’d gotten here. All I wanted to do was see a movie and get some more mileage out of my very straight hair. Well, I thought, catching my reflection in a window. At least I still have my hair.
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Running my hands through my silky hair in the reflection, I saw the guy in the heavy coat pass behind me. I whipped around and saw him walking quickly down Court Street. “Hey!” I yelled.
He glanced up at me and started walking faster, taking a sharp left and disappearing down Kane Street. Without thinking, I ran into the street after him and narrowly missed being hit by a dark blue Crown Victoria. The driver hit the brakes hard and screeched to a stop. He was so close to hitting me that my hands had made contact with the hood of the car.
The driver poked his head out of the window. Even with his face heavily contorted into, I recognized him. “Audrey?”
“Mike?” The word disappeared into the crack of thunder that seemed to come from directly above my head. Suddenly, the sky opened up and began to dump a torrent of rain onto the street, the car, and me.
I clutched at my hair and screamed “My hair!!!” “What are you doing?” Mike yelled from his car. I’d never said anything with as much certainly as I said
the next four words. “I don’t fucking know.”
Chapter 14
As Mike dropped me home in his work car, I couldn’t help but think how strange it was that I hadn’t ever seen this guy before Monday and suddenly he was everywhere. And I tried hard not to think about how my amazingly smooth and straight hair now looked like a drowned rat.
The next morning, my hair was even worse. I looked like an electrocuted poodle. Some parts were straight while others were slightly bent, and still others were balled up into tight curls. I did what I could with it before I finally gave up and got dressed in the fancy black and white dress my mother had bought me the day before. I needed to get to the photo shoot. I knew they’d freak over my hair, but being late and having bad hair would probably push my mother over the edge.
When I arrived at my parents’ place, things were already in full swing. There was a backdrop set up in front of the fireplace and tons of lighting. Mom, Ella, and Dad were all dressed to the nines—Dad in his tux and top hat and Mom and Ella in glammed out black and white dresses. The photographer and his two assistants were busy trying them out in different positions and taking test shots.
I was in the room a full minute before anyone realized I was there. “What happened to your hair?” Mom cried and rushed over to me, with Ella trailing behind her.
“I had a Super gig last night and got caught in the rain,” I explained sheepishly. “I may have slept on it wrong, too. I’m sorry.” Mom must have gone mute. She didn’t find her voice for several long moments. “You can’t take the picture like this. You look like a dust ball.”
“Gee, thanks, Mom.” “She’s right, though,” Ella added. “It looks like your hair got caught in a weedwacker.”
The photographer pointed at my hair. “We don’t have time to fix that. I have another shoot after this one. If you want to do this, we have to start now.”
Mom and the photographer went back and forth for a few minutes—her trying to negotiate more time and him shutting her down. Even as Mom protested, the assistants started moving us into position in front of the backdrop.
Dad took off his top hat and put it on my head. “Here. At least we can hide it.” I gave him a smile of thanks and tucked my hair ruined hair up into the hat.
“Places!” the photographer yelled from behind his camera. We locked into our assigned poses.
“I can’t believe you did this,” Mom mumbled from behind a clenched smile. You couldn’t even tell she was talking.
Ella pulled the same trick. “Really? You really can’t believe she did this? It’s basically her calling card.”
I wasn’t so good at this game. I broke my pose as I cried “I didn’t do it on purpose!”
Mom still didn’t’ move. “Why would you go out to work last night? You said you were going home when we left the salon.”
I couldn’t tell them that I wasn’t working last night because my license was as good as gone. I couldn’t tell them that maybe this was the last time I’d get to do Super work so I had to make it count. “I know you guys have neat little lives that just work and your stuff just fits into place but I don’t! And goddammit, it’s just a stupid picture. You’re lucky I showed up at all. If you want, I can just leave right now and all of the perfect members of this family can take a picture together.”
“Stop moving! Stop talking!” shouted the photographer.
“EVERYBODY SHUT UP!” Dad bellowed. “TAKE THE GODDAMNED PICTURE! TAKE IT NOW!”
Click, click, click went the photographer’s camera as I tried not to look as miserable as I felt.
* * * * *
“You look great!” By the time I met up with Mellie, I had wrestled my hair into its normal puff and changed out of my picture outfit back into my usually jeans, tee shirt, and sneakers. I don’t know why Mellie thought I looked great but I definitely felt better.
We were at Big Daddy’s, a trendy restaurant with a diner concept that featured a burger topped with bacon stuffed macaroni and cheese on it. We ordered two with sweet potato tater tots and gigantic double chocolate milkshakes as soon as we sat down.
Although I hadn’t seen much of Mellie since we stopped working together, she looked the same. Long dark hair and bright blue eyes. She was wearing an off the shoulder sweatshirt, a pair of black skinny jeans, and a pair of calf length boots. “You look great, too. How’s business?”
Mellie’s little fashion blog had snowballed into a full time online fashion business selling, promoting, and styling. “It’s going so good!” she grinned. “These just went up today and the traffic is already amazing.” She pointed to her gold and turquoise elephant earrings.
It was then that I noticed the fat diamond ring on her left hand. “What’s that?”
“Oh. That’s my engagement ring. This is what Kevin needed to talk to me about.”
“Um, congratulations?” Just then the waitress delivered our food and shakes. We munched silently together for a while.
Finally, Mellie said something. “Hey, Audrey?”
“Yeah?” I said through a mouthful of tater tots.
She waved her left hand in the air. “Does my ring freak you out?”
“I’m not freaked out! I swear. It’s just that getting engaged is so very grownup of you.”
“I am a grownup, Audrey. So are you. We’re in our thirties for god’s sake. I’m no different from the person I was before I put this ring on.”
“You don’t think it’s too soon?”
“No. We’ve been dating for two years,” she shrugged. “I think I’m ready for what’s next. Nothing can stay the same forever, right?” She popped a tater tot in her mouth and chewed it carefully before asking “What about you? What’s next for you?”
“After this I need to go collect the rest of the rent from the tenants. Also, there’s a dog somewhere in the building so I might see if I can snoop around for that. Then I’ll probably watch some TV and dick around in my apartment until I get tired and go to sleep.” I punctuated the statement with a huge bite of my bacon mac burger.
Mellie laughed. “No! I mean, what’s next for you in life? What are you working on? What gets you excited?”
Mellie didn’t know about my Super work. To her, I’d always been her slacker coworker. She probably wondered exactly what I was doing with my life. She wasn’t the only one, though. I wondered that, too. I’d spent my life struggling to live a normal life while balancing my Super duties. If Miss Fine had her way, I wouldn’t have to worry about the second part anymore. And then what? I had no idea.
I shrugged at Mellie. “I really don’t know.”
“Nothing you want to do?”
I flashed on a fantasy I’d always had of me flying like some of the other Supers can do. “No.”
“No movement in your love life? Any dates? At least a little crush?”
The last date I’d been on had been set up by Mellie. I’d left him in the restaurant to go do some Super work and he’d been pissed. I�
��d been so focused on my financial situation since that I hadn’t even thought about a date. Sudden, I flashed on Mike helping me with the washing machine. That was definitely not a date, I thought to myself. Outwardly, I said “Uh-huh.”
“Hmph.” The waitress came back to take our plates and drop our checks but Mellie kept her disapproving look trained on me.
I shrugged again. “What can I say? I’m a simple chick. I can barely figure out what I’m doing tomorrow. I just have to take it day by day.”
Mellie smiled. “OK. I can respect that.” We sipped our milkshakes in delicious silence for a while before she spoke again. “Hey, Audrey?”
“Yeah?”
She smiled that devilish smile she always did when she had something up her sleeve. “I forgot to tell you that I want you to be one of my bridesmaids.” Mellie burst out in a belly laugh at her own joke while I practically choked on my milkshake.
Chapter 15
When you’re in charge of a building, there is one thing that trumps all other activities: collecting rent. I loved the fact that Hy was an absentee boss. If the rent doesn’t show up in his account on time, he might stop doing that. Most of the tenants slipped checks under my door on their own. Whatever I didn’t get by the third of the month, I’d go collect in person.
I’d gotten rent from the tenants in 2B and 3B before I knocked on Mike’s 3A door. This was the first time I’d ever had to do this. He usually was one of the ones who slipped their rent under my door. And it was doubly awkward because he almost ran me over the day before and then had to drive me home as I sat in his work car looking like a drowned rat.
He opened the door in a pair of sweats and a tank top. “Hey, Audrey.”
My eyes went to his muscled arms. But I forced myself to focus on the task at hand. “Rent?”
“Oh yeah. Come on in.” He stepped aside from the doorway to let me in and shut it behind me. “I just got back from the gym. I was about to take a shower.”
Super (Book 2): Super Duper Page 7
