“Why would I let you touch my hair again?”
I raised three children, and one of them had a gum problem. This was easier than gum.
Kelly came back, bending low.
“Ma’am, would you like the police to meet the aircraft when we land?”
“Yes!” Brittany snapped. “Absolutely!”
Kelly looked at me.
“I understand,” I said.
But I didn’t expect that this brazen blonde would manage to surprise me even more.
“I wouldn’t dream of it.”
“I’ll need to document what happened,” Kelly said. “I’ll check back with you before we land.”
She left.
“My extensions cost almost everything I had left this month.”
“Then why spend it?”
“Because I wanted to look good.”
“You already did.”
“Because I wanted to look good.”
“You don’t get it.”
“Try me.”
“Everyone online looks perfect. Perfect hair, perfect skin, perfect everything.”
“And you think buying all that will make you happy?”
“I don’t know. Maybe.”
“That’s an expensive maybe.”
“Try me.”
“I couldn’t afford the perfume either. I’m twenty-eight. I already feel old.”
“Oh, sweetheart. You’re talking to a seventy-three-year-old.”
“I know.”
“And I’m having a perfectly lovely time. Apart from this flight.”
She almost smiled.
I didn’t lecture her. Hands are better than speeches.
“I already feel old.”
“Your hands look like my grandma’s.”
“Is that a compliment?”
“Yeah. She used to braid my hair when I was little.”
“Does she still?”
“No. She passed a few years ago.”
I picked up three clean strands.
“Is that a compliment?”
“Well, I haven’t forgotten how.”
The slime was gone. What was left was a very oily, perfectly intact head of extensions.
I braided it into one plain braid, so nothing could catch on the seat again.
“So it’s not ruined?”
“It’s a salad. Wash it twice and you’ll be fine.”
“I haven’t worn a braid in years.”
The slime was gone.
“It suits you. You’re a pretty girl, Brittany. You don’t need eight hundred dollars of upgrades to prove it.”
“I’m sorry I kept throwing my hair at you. And for what I said about your age.”
“That was rather rude.”
“I know.”
I tied off the braid.
“And I’m sorry I put slime in your hair.”
“It’s a salad. Wash it twice and you’ll be fine.”
“Yeah. That was pretty mean.”
“It was.”
Brittany looked at her braid.
“Thank you for fixing it, though.”
“You’re welcome, sweetheart.”
Kelly returned a few minutes later.
“I’ll need to document what happened.”
“Ma’am, about the police. Do you still want us to request that they meet the aircraft?”
Brittany hesitated.
“No. I changed my mind.”
Kelly nodded.
After she left, I turned to Brittany.
“Why did you change your mind?”
“I changed my mind.”
“Because I know what the video looks like,” she mumbled.
“What does it look like?”
“Like I had it coming.”
“I’d have put it more kindly. But I wouldn’t have put it differently.”
She gave a small laugh.
I didn’t know whether I should tell her the rest.
“What does it look like?”
“And, sweetheart, I believe you picked up something of mine.”
“What?”
“A hundred dollars.”
“That was YOUR money? I thought it was mine!”
“Of course you were, dear.”
I pretended to believe her. It was the kindest thing I could do for both of us.
“A hundred dollars.”
She dug out the bill and handed it over.
“Apology accepted.”
I went back to my seat. Harold had kept it warm, or at least unoccupied.
“Would you like to get coffee when we land?” he asked.
“Are you always this forward with women on airplanes?”
“Only the dangerous ones.”
“Only the dangerous ones.”
The captain announced our descent.
Emily would get a check instead. We’d buy a replacement together that weekend.
