Talking Like Women

It couldn’t have been a good fifteen minutes later, in walked Robin. Face all tear stained, eyes puffed up and head full of different color rollers. She looked like a woman defeated and maybe she was. She had been blinding herself from her husband’s affairs as long as she had been dating him. Was this her wake up call? Is this what it took for her to finally come face to face with the kind of man she had pledged her life to? What kind of man has children by two different women leaving them both in the dark about the each other? Was she going to be able to go in here and talk this other woman without jumping on her right in this shop? Theoretically the truth was, this woman didn’t owe her anything, not even an explanation, but in reality the wife can’t physically beat the crap out of her husband, but there is a good chance that she could drag the other woman up and down the block releasing all of her frustration, anger, aggression and most of hurt and pain.

A complete hush fell over the salon as she made her way back to the dryers. Every eye in the building was on her anticipating the worst. Especially Sasha who didn’t know this lady, but was fully aware that she had just turned this lady’s whole world upside down and could only imagine how she would react in the same situation. But wait she was in the same situation…she was about to marry this man or so she thought. It was becoming painfully clear that Robbie had no intention of marrying her. How was he going to marry her if he was already married? And apparently he’d been married to entire time and gotten them both pregnant at about the same time. Now, Sasha’s initial shock wore off and anger began to set in for her also.

Monique quickly walked over and met Robin before she reached the dryers and said in a hushed voice, “Robin this is not the time or the place.”

“Monique, I’m not here to make a scene. I just came back to get my hair finished.” Robin calmly replied.

Monique raised an eyebrow and replied in a suspicious tone, “I’ll just put you over here.” She turned to lead Robin to a machine away from Sasha, but Robin would have none of it.

“I’ll take this one.” She said pointing to the dryer next to Sasha. “It’s still hot”
“Robin, don’t start no mess in here.” Monique growled softly through her teeth.
“I’m not…just.”
“Robin”
“Monique.” Robin pleaded with Monique, her eyes starting to tear up again. Monique gave in with a stern glare. Family. Can’t live with them; can’t give them a twenty percent discount without having them act a fool where you work. Sasha was uneasy and almost got up to move when Robin sat down beside her, but then something strange happened. Robin started talking to Sasha in a tone too low for anyone other than the two of them to hear. Sasha removed the hood of the dryer again and listened. This hushed conversation went on for more than thirty minutes under to watchful eye of Monique and was only disrupted by the sound of Sasha’s cell phone ringing.

Apparently the two ladies had come to some kind of understanding and Sasha had convinced their shared lover to meet her at her place for “lunch”. He quickly agreed seeing as they hadn’t made love in almost three weeks and he missed her or so he said. He even threw in a line about wanting to talk about setting a date…all in to the speakerphone feature of Sasha’s cell phone…why don’t men think before they speak. For a change, things were finally going, as they should. Robin and Sasha finished having their hair styled and left together in Sasha’s car to meet the man married to one of them and engaged to the other.

The Baby Incident

Hell have no fury and Heaven help the man brave enough to cross a woman who is the godchild of Melody Montgomery, one of the most well connected, influential and lets not forget vengeful women in town. When it came to power she had it an used it to bend others to her will just for the sake of knowing that she still could. She was married to the most power defense attorneys in three counties, George Montgomery and had been for the past thirty years…and let me tell you she had a hold on that man that was unnatural. Anyway, Nikki had gone crying to Melody for guidance as soon as she found out about her husband stepping out on her two weeks ago and Melody had advise her on just what to do and had even set some of the wheels in motion to leave this young brother sailing up shit creek without a paddle for lack of a better analogy.

Now back at the shop…you didn’t think that we were finished there did you? Qualisha had disappeared on “business” after the morning happenings, so the shop was a buzz with opinions about what each person would have done if it had happened to them. You know people are always so bold and brave when they’re on the outside of the situation. While that conversation continued, another situation began to bubble and boil over right under the dryers.

Two complete strangers sat talking over the sound of the dryers about what else, but their children. Everything was going fine until one of the young mothers named Sasha reached into her purse and pulled out her wallet full of pictures of her 11 month old baby girl, Cree. The second mother, Robin, gasped in disbelief and said, “that looks just like my baby.” Robin reached in her bag and pulled out a wallet sized photo album filled with what at first glance looked like the same child.

“Oh my God,” a stunned Sasha replied, “they look almost like twins. How old is your baby?” She said as she flipped through the pages of Robin’s little photo album.

“Eleven months. She’ll be a year old on the 15 of this month.” She said smiling as she watched this young mother go through the pictures of her precious daughter. She gushed with motherly pride as Sasha seemed to melt with every turn of the page but then…Sasha stopped and her face went blank as she stared at the family picture at the end of the album. “How old is your little girl?” Robin asked to break the silence.

As if she was lost in a daze she said, “eleven…months. Is…this…Robbie Harrison?”

“Huh?” Robin responded and started to become a little uneasy as this woman she didn’t even know question her about her husband. She became defensive and questioned, “why?”

“Because that’s Cree’s father,” and with that all attention surrounding these two particular dryers shifted from talk of Qualisha and Nikki to the loud conversation that was brewing in the back of the shop. Any time two women share paternity of their children there are issues, but to share paternity and not know it…scandalous and then to find out in the hair salon. Talk about getting a girl’s dandruff up.

“What?!” Robin questioned in a disbelieving tone and with that question, the hoods on the hair dryers came up. That is code for there is about to be some “drama in here.” Robin continued to grow angrier as every word spilled out of her mouth, “ What do you mean her father? Girl this is my husband! We’ve been married for almost two years. He ain’t got no babies other than my Bobbi.”

“Husband?” Sasha gasped as she rumbled through her purse again and pulled out a “family photo” of herself, her daughter and what appeared to be the same guy in Robin’s family photo and to make matters worst he was wearing the same blue button front shirt and yellow tie in both pictures. “Robbie is my ex-boyfriend. We broke up because he wouldn’t set a date.”

Robin stared at the photo and rage just built up in her as she stared at her life in being mirrored by someone else, she caught the end of Sasha’s statement and quickly shot back, “ Date for what?”

Robin held her breath as she listen to the words that she didn’t want to hear pour out of Sasha’s mouth, “to get married. We were engaged and had been for a year before we broke up last month.” The words were like acid to Robin’s ears and she felt her chest tightening as this complete stranger made accusations against her husband.

Robin instantly went into marriage protection mode. “You a damn lie!” Robin stated flat out.

“What?” Sasha replied as she too went into relationship protection mode even though she has supposedly broken up with this guy.

“I said you a damn lie.” And with that Robin stood up, which prompted Sasha stand up also.

“I don’t even know you. What do I have to lie to you for,” and with that Sasha’s hand went to her hips, “Besides if Robbie is your husband, then the first thing you need to do is take this up with him.” An almost unanimous “hmmmmn” went through the shop.

Mark stepped in to try to resolve the situation, but it was all but over before he could get a word in. “No. The first thing I need to do is get an AIDS test and then I’ll deal with him. You. You lucky that I’m a saved woman now.” With that Robin pulled her smock off, grabbed her purse, over paid Monique and left the salon…rollers and all. At least Sasha took the time to finish getting her hair done…that is after she reached Robbie’s voicemail with an urgent message to get in contact with her.

The Beginning

It is always hard to start at the beginning, especially when you aren’t sure where that beginning is or how everything actually began in the first place. A good rule of thumb is to start with what you know for yourself to be the truth, not what has been learned thorough second hand conversation or lord forbid gossip. No, the beginning should always begin with a first hand account of the facts and then comes the second hand accusations and rumors. Well, let’s just start with the facts and see what lies and deception we can get into. Don’t frown like that…the best stories always are those of lies and deception. Now, I know you aren’t big on gossip and would never want to caught wind of someone’s dirty laundry, but I love it and that my dear is why the facts of our story begin in a place where most lies and rumors get started…the beauty salon.

Sheer Inhairbitions was just like any other mid-scale salon specializing in everything from acrylic nails to fusion weaves. You could get your highlights done and fake lashes applied all in the same setting. There were all of the usual characters one finds in a salon. An eccentric owner named Qualisha, who was college educated but prided herself on being ghetto. The stylist to die for, Monique, whom stayed booked two months ahead with an extensive list of clients. Tisha, the salon, gossip, who kept constant trouble stirred up with her word of mouth news that she spread throughout the salon like fire through a bush. The token gay guy, Will and the token male whore Mark, both of whom were masters of their craft. Typical salon, but let’s not get too focused on them, we are here to start our story and that is what we will do.

It was a Tuesday morning when Nicolette Williams strolled through the front door of Sheer Inhairbitions with a business proposal and a smile. Nikki, as she was known, was what most women strive to be, young, beautiful, and smart, a body to die for and self acquired wealth. She still had a model’s strut though she hadn’t graced the catwalk in years. She had retired from modeling at the ripe old age of twenty-two and invested her money in some housing development projects, the city’s hottest night club and various other business deals. She smiled as her designer heels clicked across the floor of the reception area. She warmly greeted the receptionist who took her information and asked her to have a seat, which she did with a polite smile, while crossing her long freshly waxed legs.

At first glance, it was easy to both envy and hate Nikki simply for the life she lived, but looks can be deceiving when judging the life of a woman who had been blessed in so many ways. Was her life really as picture perfect as it seemed? There were certainly enough rumors circulating around town to suggest that it wasn't. As she got up and made her way to Qualisha’s office, located in the back of the salon, she made sure to smile and greet each of the stylists by name as she passed. She was after all one of the nicest people you could ever want to meet and very down to earth. She went out of her way to make others feel welcomed and was always willing to give you the designer shirt off her back. In fact, she was so nice she was unknowingly sharing her husband with Qualisha. Somebody please give this girl a medal and a clue.

This is where the facts end and the speculation begins, it is a known fact that Nikki casually sashayed into Qualisha’s office on a Tuesday morning and confidently strolled out ten minutes later, with a yelling and screaming Qualisha dead on her heels. It is pure speculation as to what occurred on the other side of the door, but in the dead center on the shop the conversation was loud and clear. For now, the conversation went like this:

“You WILL be hearing from my lawyer, Bitch!” screamed an irate Qualisha, all of her poise and grace down the drain, as she stormed behind a smiling Nikki. “It’s not my fault that you can’t keep your husband at home.”

Nikki stopped dead in her tracks and spun around quickly on her heels to face Qualisha, never losing her composure. She smiled the smile of a woman holding all of the cards, “Alienation of Affection, dear…it’s called alienation of affection. If you spent more time researching the consequences of sleeping with a married man and less time screwing them, then you would know that the law says IT…is your fault. So, this is about to be mine,” she continued as she made a circular motion with her finger, “so, I hope the sex was worth it.” She paused for a second and then shifted all of her weight to one side and continued “but I’ve sleep with my husband, so I know he’s not worth a happy meal.” She turned to the other stylists and said, “You all have a good day!” And with that she strutted like the runway diva she once was out of the salon leaving behind only the sound of awkward silence.

Well, that little incident sent pandemonium throughout the shop and the gossip of the morning happenings shot out east, north, south and west. The embellishments of what had occurred ranged from a physical altercation to Qualisha begging Nikki not to take her shop. The only part of the story that had remained in tact was that Nikki confronted Qualisha about sleeping with her husband. He got the privilege of finding out about his wife’s visit via a frantic phone call from Qualisha. Ending in his insisting that he would handle the whole situation and reassuring Qualisha that she was not going to lose her shop, something he was in no position to do.