Lady in Red
by
DiAnne Bay ;)
Fresh from the shower, Johnny Gage stood in front of the mirror as he meticulously combed and re-combed his hair. It didn’t seem to matter which way he threaded the small black comb through his thick unruly hair; the results were always the same: still thick and still unruly. With a heavy sigh, he tossed the comb in the empty sink, put his hands on his hips, and stared in frustration at his reflection in the mirrored glass. He ran both hands through his hair, grabbed his comb, and started all over again. He turned on the faucet, stuck the comb through the light stream of water, and with one hand shook the excess water from its teeth.
“Hey!” Roy wiped water droplets from the front of his shirt as he walked through the door at the wrong time. “Watch what you’re doing!” Roy took one look at his partner and raised his eyebrows. “What are you doing?”
“I can’t get my hair to do what I want!” Johnny answered in defeat.
Roy smiled as he grabbed a towel from the rack to dry his arms. “When have you ever cared what your hair looked like?”
“Well, today’s different,” Johnny said. “She’s coming home today, you know.”
“Yeah, I know,” Roy said. “So what’s that got to do with your hair?”
“I want to look my best! Don’t you?” Johnny turned to face Roy. “I mean, today’s special!”
“Somehow I don’t think she’s going to care what your hair looks like.” Roy tossed the towel at Johnny.
“Hey!” Johnny yelled as he caught the towel in mid-air.
“Just consider that payback for the water,” Roy laughed.
“Oh, you’re all heart,” Johnny said sarcastically.
“I try…” Roy smiled innocently.
Changing the subject slightly, Johnny said, “What time do you think she’ll get here?”
“Dunno,” Roy answered with a shrug of his shoulders. “I think they said about noon.”
“Noon!” Johnny exclaimed. “But, that…that’s now!”
Roy checked his watch. “Sure is!”
“Go out front and see if she’s here yet,” Johnny said as he turned back to the mirror and tried to smooth down the lock of hair that insisted on standing straight up. “I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
When Roy saw Johnny wetting the comb under the running water again he decided to make a hasty exit. “I’ll holler when I see her.”
Johnny merely waved his hand in response. When he was certain that Roy was gone, he stole over to his locker and looked around one last time to make sure he was alone. He glanced from one door to the next to make sure no one was sneaking around the corner before he even opened his locker door.
“If anyone sees me doing this, I’m dead meat!” he said to himself. Pulling a bottle from his locker, he returned to the sink and held down the stubborn lock of hair with one hand. In the other hand he held the bottle above his head and depressed the spray nozzle.
Fssssssssssstttttttt…
Johnny coughed and wheezed as the hair spray drifted into his face.
“Geez!” he finally uttered when he could talk. “How do women stand this stuff?”
He set the bottle of hair spray on the top of the sink and inspected his handi-work. The errant strands of hairs lay perfectly flat, held in place by the aromatic spray.
“It worked!” Johnny smiled at his success “I guess sometimes you just have to endure hardships to reach your goal in life…Hmm…that’s pretty profound!” He laughed slightly. “Too bad I can’t share it with anyone.”
Johnny glanced at the clock on the locker room wall. It read: 12:05.
“I gotta go!” Johnny tucked his comb in his back pocket and dashed out the door to wait with Roy. He hoped he wasn’t too late.
Johnny found Roy leaning against the brick wall near the maps, looking, for all intents and purposes, as if he were merely waiting for a run.
“What’s the matter with you?” Johnny asked in disbelief. “Aren’t you excited?”
Roy shrugged his shoulders. “Well, sure, I’m excited, but, Johnny…”
“Shhh…” Johnny put his finger to his lips. “I think I hear something…”
Meanwhile, Roy had noticed a definite aroma wafting through the air.
“Do you smell something?” he asked.
“No,” Johnny said distractedly, taking one step away from Roy and his nose.
Roy sniffed a couple of times and leaned in closer to his partner. “Are you sure you don’t smell something?”
By now, Roy had caught Johnny’s attention. Johnny sniffed the air and shook his head. “No, I don’t smell anything!”
“Smells like my wife’s…is that hairspray?” Roy asked curiously, all the while inspecting Johnny’s suddenly tamed hair.
Johnny’s eyes grew wide. If he couldn’t distract Roy, and soon, his goose was cooked and he knew it.
“What time do you have?” Johnny asked, hoping against hope to change the subject.
“Same time as you do, I suspect,” Roy answered warily. “I see you got your hair to stay in place.”
“Uh, yeah…” Johnny answered. “Finally decided to cooperate, I guess…”
“I guess…” Roy said. “Funny how that happens all of a sudden, huh?”
Johnny avoided direct eye contact with Roy, praying that he would change the subject already. Before he could worry about it, Chet wandered into the engine bay.
“She here yet?” Chet called out.
“Yeah, Chet, she’s right in front of you,” Johnny said with a large dose of sarcasm. “What are you, blind?”
“Funny, Gage,” Chet said. To Johnny’s horror, Chet held up a familiar bottle of hair spray. “Say, I was just in the locker room and found this on the sink. I don’t suppose either of you happens to know…”
“There she is!” Johnny yelled out, relieved at the timing of the welcome arrival. He ran to the front of the bay and stood in the open doorway, arms crossed, smiling for all he was worth – all thoughts of hairspray, and the aroma that goes with it, faded away.
Roy and Chet joined him as the other men of A-shift came out of the kitchen to see what was happening.
“She is a beaut’,” Chet had to admit.
“I have to admit,” Roy added. “I’ve missed her.”
Johnny sighed longingly. “She’s just about the prettiest lady in red I’ve ever seen.”
Johnny’s enthusiasm was contagious. The men took a step back as the long-awaited beauty entered the station house. All six men stood grinning ear-to-ear in admiration as the newly repaired squad came to a stop in her usual parking spot in the bay.
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