Sakura Yamada waved off her husband and grandson after Sunday brunch and slipped into the Lux Salon hoping to catch her favourite stylist for a drop in. The holidays had been so hectic she’d neglected her hair and felt positively mangy. She looked around for Brandy, her funky young friend and frowned. Maybe she was in the back doing a wash. Sakura approached the desk and spoke to a man who looked like he was trying to figure out how to use the computer till. He was a small slight build young man of East Indian descent with his hair almost buzz cut all around except for a swooping chunk at the front which side swept across his eyes containing one fire engine red streak in a the wave of jet black.
“Hi I was wondering if I could do a drop in with Brandy? She’s often more free on Sundays.”
The man looked around the salon and then back at the computer keying something in “She might be here…..sorry I’ve only been working here about half an hour so far. Brandy…Brandy Miller?” He asks unsure of the name.
Sakura nods “Yes, that’s her name. Tall, blond, pretty girl.” She offers, trying to be helpful.
“Says here she’s on leave. Sorry.” The man looks up helplessly “I could book you with Scarlett.”
Sakura sighs. On leave? For what? Was she ill? Sakura ran a hand through her hair debating how badly she needed a cut. She’d never been to Scarlett because she’d heard Scarlett while she had been to other stylists. She was a loud gossipy woman with a high pitched grating laugh. She also heard her talk loudly through shampooing, which was something Sakura despised. She loved to just zone out and let all her worries wash away. However Scarlett would probably know the gossip on Brandy and she decided she could endure one cut with her to find out what happened.
“Yes I’ll take it. What’s your name dear?” She asked him as he keyed the appointment in.
“Vijay, Ma’am. Can I get yours for the booking please?”
She smiled “Nice to meet you Vijay. Sakura Yamada.”
“Have a seat and I’ll tell Scarlett you’re here…if I can remember which one she is.”
Sakura leaned in and whispered “The loud laugh Vijay.” Before sitting and picking up a random magazine.
Vijay looked truly grateful “Oh yes! Thank you Ms. Yamada….” He chuckled and went around the corner.
A couple of minutes later Scarlett came out from the back and called out “Sakura Yamada?!” And grinned widely at her in recognition “Oh!! The sushi lady!” Scarlett was an Amazon of a woman and almost a whole head taller than Sakura. She had short dark hair parted to one side that looked almost a little damaged from too many dye jobs and styling products.
Cue the high pitched laugh and Sakura’s internal cringe before she smiles and confirmed
“That would be me.” She followed Scarlett to the sinks.
Scarlett arranged a towel under Sakura’s head and arranged her hair in the sink standing almost menacing above her with the sprayer “So what are we doing to you sushi lady?”
Sakura looked up at her “Well I usually go to Brandy and the last cut she gave me was an experiment of hers. But my husband liked it and said I looked like a Japanese Marilyn Monroe…..a little on the long side of that. Can you do something like it? I probably have pictures in my phone.”
Scarlett found this very funny and threw her head back, laughing and possibly breaking several light bulbs. Sakura closed her eyes and Scarlett began washing and talking non stop about Marilyn Monroe. Some of it Sakura knew and some was new and trivial information. She hoped with all the trivia the woman would get the haircut right. As she was encouraged out of the sink and her head wrapped Scarlett was saying “and that dress that she sang happy birthday to JFK was so tight…she had to be sewn in. Can you imagine that? A curvy girl though with so much guts. Come to the first chair here…”
Sakura settled in and took a momentary pause as Scarlett gathered her tools to ask her question “What kind of leave is Brandy on? Is she well?”
Scarlett beamed “Oh yeah she’s great. She had the cutest little baby boy last month. Called him Benjamin.”
Sakura looked stunned “Oh she never even mentioned she was expecting! Well that’s lovely for her!”
Scarlett let out a blessedly short high pitched giggle “Brandy was one of those lucky women who barely showed until the last month or so and then…..boom…swallowed a basketball. At least she got that part lucky with the rest being so sad.”
Sakura’s face fell “Oh god…is the baby OK? What happened?!”
“The baby’s perfect. But the baby daddy….well it’s not really my place to tell you…”
Sakura sighed in pity for Brandy, thinking she knew where this was going. She’d watched it with her own daughter “Did he leave her with the child?”
Scarlett looks around and drops her head down near Sakura’s “Not by choice. He died in the earthquake. You know who she was dating on and off for the last year before the quake right? Lee Chen Wright.”
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