Moon over Madeline Island (9 page)

“G
ood morning, Watts,” I practically sing. “I hope Dorothy's not far behind you, I'm wanting to have a little chat with both of you. 'Course, Dorothy is
always
late, so—”

“What did you and Ruby
do
up there, anyway?” Watts asks while tossing her bags into the break room. “You look…different. You change your hair color? No…it's not that. Lost weight?”

I wave off that one. “Thank you, for noticing
something,
anyway. To be honest, I
do
feel different. I've so much going on in my head right now, and I—”

“Whatever it is, I sure would like some.” Watts moves her eyebrows up and down.

“Let's grab some coffee and go sit out back for a minute.”

We fill our favorite mugs and head through the back door to sit on the patio furniture in the alley. I feel like a visitor here now and that seems okay.

Rocky jumps into my lap, right on cue, to give me moral support. This
is
a major event for me and hopefully for Watts, too. I'm more excited than anything. I light up and blow a nice big smoke ring, Watts follows suit. She smokes those horrible clove things. As if my smoke smells nice.

I study Watts, envying her in a way that catches me for a moment. What would it be like to be so young again. 'Course, I wasn't ever
that
young. I've always taken things so seriously. Will I come back here in two weeks begging her to hand me back the salon? Have I lost my mind?

“I've never learned how to do that.” Watts pulls me back as a clove cloud sweeps over me. “You getting married or something, Eve? I know! You did that artificial sperm thing.” She grins.

I take a deep breath, then plunge in. “I'd like you to manage the salon; tell that landlord of yours to take a leap—move into my apartment upstairs.” I pull out a simple contract I drew up last night instead of cashing in on some much needed beauty sleep. Watts reads the salary I'm proposing and looks up with enormous, bulging eyes.

“You're going to pay me
what?
Is this some kind of a joke or something? It's too early for this shit, Eve.” She plants both feet on the ground, about to bolt from crazy me.

“I'm done doing hair and
yes
…I want you to manage for me. And since I own the place and if you hire another person…” I'm enjoying this. It is the right thing to do (I think).

“What will
you
do? My God Eve, half of Eau Claire comes to you and the other half would die to get in and you're just handing it over to me?” Watts asks, a bit confused but slowly catching on. “I don't get it and I think it's time you started on the medication thing, 'cause honey, you have
lost
your mind.”

“Look, Ruby and I are—”

“You know, if you ask me”—she straightens in her chair—“I think it's really kind of weird, you hanging around with a woman old enough to be your mother and…well, I worry about you. When is the last time you were
laid,
for crying out loud? You and her—you're not
girlfriend-
girlfriends, are you? Not that there's anything wrong with that, but—”

“Oh Jesus, Watts, for heaven's sake. Ruby is my best friend, you know that…I mean, she's cute, but I only have eyes for Rocky.” I sing the last part. “As far as the last time I was laid…hell, must have been…Never mind.” It's been that long.

I wonder if other people wonder about Ruby and me. Who the hell cares? The thought of that scrawny woman naked makes me want to hand her a robe and show her to the kitchen!

“My God, if I go more than a week…weekend…I can't imagine. You poor thing, I had no idea. No wonder. Oh, Eve, if you just got out more. You know…I have this friend of mine. He's not all that much to look at, but I hear he's a real tiger in the hay and—”

“Watts…
hello,
I'm trying to tell you I'm leaving and all you can think of is getting laid?” I have to laugh. Just then Dorothy's enormously tall and swirled-up hairdo peeks through the back door. Over her rhinestone bifocals she says, “Good morning all. You got laid, Eve? Oh my, I would
love
to hear the details, but I have to run my husband over to the Y and then take little Billy to practice; see you all in a couple of hours. You
do
look peppy, Eve; you're glowing, you little sex kitten. Bye now,” Dorothy singsongs, waves, and disappears. We hear the front door open and close. I glance at Watts, shaking my head and we burst out laughing.

“How could you leave
that?”
Watts asks. “Have you been smoking weed, Eve? Is there someone I can call?”

“I'm serious, Watts. You've worked with me for over eight years. I've watched you struggle with so much and it would give me a hell of a thrill to help you. Consider it payback for all those years of putting up with me.” I feel old, wise and motherly all wrapped together.

“I don't know what to say,” Watts replies quietly. She gets teary-eyed; so am I. It's all coming to be. I'm really doing this. I haven't lost my mind after all. Besides, I could come crawling back if—no, I'm far too stubborn for that.

Through snivels she asks, “You
are
going to fix those roots before you move, aren't you?”

“How the hell can I afford to at the rates they charge here?” I reach out to give her a hug. What a wonderful feeling to be able to pass along a part of something that's been very dear to me. So this is what it feels like to let go of something that all at once I realize was holding me back. Now Watts can grow it into her own and maybe, if things work out, Watts could buy me out someday.

“What're you going to do? This is your home,” Watts asks in between honking her nose.

“Ruby and I are moving to Madeline Island and we're going into business for ourselves. Doing what, you ask? Well…we haven't figured out the details yet, but hey, what's the rush?”

“You
have
flipped. That's the end of the world up there. What will you do in the winter? I've been there, though…It's beautiful. I bet they could use an upscale hair salon, but in the winter, Eve—you'll go crazy.”

“I can't wait.”

 

It's around lunchtime. I've asked Watts to begin the process of moving my clients to hers and Dorothy's already packed schedules. Now that I've made my mind up, I can't seem to get things done fast enough. That's how I've always been, though; I make up my mind and then I can hardly stand still until I'm doing what I made up my mind to do.

Watts and Dorothy have been crying on and off and it's driving me crazy. Maybe I have come a bit unscrewed, but if it feels this good, I have nothing to worry about. I've invited them up for dinner tonight so we can spend some time together
and
I want to show them I'm not falling apart or joining a cult or any of the other things I overheard Dorothy whispering about. Ruby is taking me to Woo's Pagoda for lunch. I can't wait; I need to get out of here.

“Eve's salon,” I say into the phone.

“It's all over town and it's just noon!” I hear the familiar blowing sound as Ruby exhales a big cloud of smoke and I wait a beat for her to take a breath. “I called my Realtor and he thinks it's a quick sell, so let's pick a date and—”

“They think we're lesbians, you know,” I whisper into the phone so that no one in the salon will hear.

I'm giggling though, and after Ruby is done cackling in my ear, she says, “Oh I will miss this town, but it's not like we're moving that far away or anything. Lesbians eh?”

“Get over here and take me to lunch,” I demand, a bit louder than I mean to.

“I'll be there as soon as I've located a fresh, clean bra and matching panties. Can't seem to find my Tuesday set and seeing as it's now…Oh, never mind…ta ta, darling…see you soon,” Ruby clicks off.

I scoot upstairs, shuck off my jeans and whip over my head a favorite cotton dress covered with white daisies. I twist my still damp hair up into a French roll and rush around trying to find my other sandal. I'm hopping by one of my bookshelves in the living room and notice how the sunlight is slanting in from the skylight and hitting a picture.

It's of my mom and me. We're sitting on the front stoop of my folk's house; I must be around thirteen. I wipe the dust off with the hem of my dress and can't help but notice that my mom is wearing this very dress.

How could I have forgotten? This was
her
dress, and today is the date she died. It hits me in the heart and I slink down on my sofa, clutching the picture to my chest. I close my eyes. Remembering, I see her in the hospital bed. She suffered a series of strokes and was not doing well toward the end.

“You mustn't worry about me, Eve,” my mom had said in a faint whisper. “I saw your grandfather last night in a dream…he looked so happy. He told me not to be afraid, that he'll take care of me. So now you can take care of you, dear.”

“Oh Mom,” I murmur out loud now—as I did back then, too. Fresh tears slide down my cheeks.

“Follow your heart Eve. I'll not be too far away, not too far, dear.” She slipped away, was in a coma for a while and then left altogether.

Sighing, I swear I can smell her perfume in a breeze that whispers across my neck. I know in my soul I'm doing the right thing and that Mom is with me, always.

My thoughts drift over to Amy—again. Ruby's right; it
was
years ago and now there's the Internet and maybe, just maybe I'll find her. Rocky jumps into my lap, scaring me to death, or rather—to life.

 

“I'm starved.” Ruby pulls out a red vinyl chair and sits down across from me.

“I told the girls at the shop,” I say. “Watts will be taking over and all they can do is cry and look at me as though my arms fell off or something.”

“Oh, I'm sure it's a shock,” Ruby replies, checking her face in a tiny mirror. “You've been their strength for so long, as well as their fearless leader. You'll be very missed.”

“Thank you, that's sweet…. I know that, I guess. I just don't want everyone to be so
sad
. Dorothy had to have me blow out one of her clients' hair this morning 'cause she couldn't stop wailing.” I sip my green tea.

“Things will all settle down, you'll see.” Ruby touches my arm lightly. “Hey, I listed my place right after we hung up. How about you and I throwing together a garage sale?”

“I think we should donate whatever we don't want.” I know that if I sold my old junk I'd have too much time to think it over and most likely end up pulling everything out the last minute and then buying some of Ruby's stuff too!

The waitress zooms by, takes our order and in minutes our food arrives, so we eat, sip our tea and enjoy the hustle and bustle around us.

“Have you any regrets or change of heart, darling?” Ruby asks with a slurping sound as a noodle snakes into her dark red mouth.

“Yes, but only fleeting.”

Fleeting, more like
freeing.
I honestly wasn't one hundred percent sure, but once I made the offer to Watts to take over my salon, well, then I knew this whole change is real. Amazing how one action puts into motion so many others. Why in the world didn't I do this sooner if it feels this right?

“I've lived in my house on Rust Street for over thirty years,” Ruby says. “I can't wait to sort through the lot Ed and I collected and let go of some of it…lighten up a bit.”

“If you help me, I'll help you. God, I have so many books, I don't know if I can get rid of them either. A few…maybe.”

“Oh heavens, we have that huge old barn to store things in and anything we can't part with—good Lord—bring it!” Ruby smacks her teacup down for good measure. A table of blue-hairs next to us looks over; I smile politely. Ruby can be a little heavy in the drama department.

“Ruby, I don't have
that
much stuff, but you're right, we should try to get rid of the extras.”

“Actually, the cottage
does
have about everything we could need. I can't
wait
to take some of those dead animals down from the rafters—creepy glass eyes, following you everywhere.”

“There
are
a lot of stuffed things hanging around.” I wonder if grizzly bears ever stuff their human victims. “Thinning out that collection would be a very cool idea.” I wonder if she'll let me move around the furniture.

“Yes—very cool: Eve and Ruby hit the road and head to the islands and it's so
cool,”
Ruby replies. “Cool” just doesn't seem to work for her. “I wonder if the
Leader-Telegram
will run photos of us waving from the van?”

“I'm off the books and officially done at Eve's Salon,” I say. “It feels weird. What are you looking at?”

“I am thinking how fortunate I am to have you as my confidant,” Ruby simply states. “I had no
idea
this would be how things would turn out. You know…doing
this,
making all these changes together. A girl my age doesn't usually think that all of a sudden the sun is going to be shining again…and so
bright,
too. I'm so grateful, darling.” She brushes my arm like she does, to let me know she feels more but can't say more.

“Me too; me too. Let's blow this joint. I have to get dinner going for Dorothy and Watts. I think I'll lay in some extra wine, I'd really like to have a big ol' girls' night. You want to join us? I could use some help and I'm sure it's going to be a hoot.”

“Sounds lovely, darling. I need to do some errands this afternoon. Then I can swing by around, say…five, so we can get things cooking.”