Page 26 of Unlikely to Stay
Chapter 7
“Are you ready for tomorrow?”
Madge Perkins was sitting in CC’s styling chair, a set of perm rollers in her cotton candy pink hair.CC was worried a perm on top of the pink dye she had used on Madge’s hair last week might cause all the old woman’s hair to fall out of her scalp.When she had voiced her concerns with Madge, the lady had told CC if it fell out she knew a place that sold fancy wigs in Lakeview.CC didn’t have the heart or the courage to tell Madge the wigs she desired were actually weaves in a shop tailored to women of a different race than Madge’s lily white skin.
“I could get away with some corn rows.Don’t you think I could?”Madge asked, squinting at CC in the mirror.CC was pretty sure she was nothing but a big blob to the woman since she wasn’t wearing her glasses.
“No need for corn rows.I think I can safely say now that your hair is not going to fall out.”
“How can you be sure?”
“I’ve been doing this a while, Madge.Call it my salon Spidey sense.”
Madge harrumphed at her.“If you say so.Just don’t make me look like I got cotton candy on top of my head.I don’t want to scare off all the bachelors I plan to bid on.”
There was no way Madge’s hair wasn’t going to look like a cotton candy poof on top of her head but CC wasn’t going to say a word.She had warned Madge when she walked through the doors and insisted on a perm togive her volumethat it might resemble the fluffy sugar on a stick.Madge had ignored CC’s warning.
CC swore she was going to start making the women who came into her shop sign contracts saying what CC did and did not tell them before they did things to their hair.Damn Kelda and her hair-dyeing antics.Any day now CC expected Harry Donovan, the town’s ancient lawyer, to come knocking down her door because an old lady with purple hair was suing her.
“Do you plan on bidding on more than one bachelor, Madge?”
“I sure do.With Kelda outta my way as competition, I got my eye on several.”
“And who are the lucky gentlemen?”
“Well, that hottie doctor from down at the clinic, for one.”
CC smirked.That was a bid she would love to see won.
“And one of Griff’s friends from Oklahoma City, I think his name is Wrigley, Trident, Extra, or Bubble Yum Hart…I can’t remember his first name.I just know it was some sort of gum.”
“I’m betting it’s Wrigley.I can’t imagine any parent naming their son Bubble Yum, Trident, or Extra.”
“Well, that crazy Gwyneth Paltrow named her kidApple.And one of those Kardashians named her kidNorth.I don’t see why a person can’t name their kid Trident or Extra if they want.”
CC hid a smile behind her hand.“You make a fair point.”
“Anyway, thatWrigleyHart is one fine piece of eye candy.Have you seen his picture on those posters your friends have plastered around town?”
CC shook her head.She planned on avoiding any and all things auction related.She didn’t plan on bidding on anyone, so why should she look?
“Well, you should take a gander.He might even be hotter than the doc, if I do say so myself.And then there’s Mason from the marina.My last resort is Marty, but only if I can’t snag one of the young stud muffins.I’m not thinking anyone is going to bid on him, so he’s probably a sure thing.”
“What do you plan on doing with these men if you win them all?”
“I always wanted to stretch out on a lounge chair and have men fan me and feed me grapes.I reckon that’s the way to go.Oh,andthey’ll be dressed in togas.Maybe even oiled down.I haven’t thought that far yet.”
CC cringed.Those poor men.She hoped for their sakes Madge had a limited budget and was outbid on every eligible bachelor.CC wouldn’t wish being oiled up and wearing a white sheet on her worst enemy.
“Let’s get this perm washed out and I’ll style you up.Okay?”
“Okay.I want that expensive shampoo used, too.Just don’t ask me to buy any.Kelda said last time you were here you tried to make her buy that thirty dollar stuff.Don’t you know us old people are on tight budgets?If I bought that shampoo I’d use all my grocery money for the month and starve.”
CC rolled her eyes.She knew perfectly well Madge’s dearly departed husband had a one hundred thousand dollar life insurance policy Madge cashed in as soon as she buried him in Parker Cemetery.But if Madge wanted to pretend like she was one of the old people living on government assistance, so be it.
“I promise I won’t try to make you buy any of that shampoo.Although, if you want to know a secret, I didn’t ask Kelda to buy any, either.”
“I knew it!That woman is a big, fat liar!She probably lied to get Burt in the sack, too.Conniving old bat.”