Karen turned in the chair and caught Josey’s eyes in the mirror. Until now, not much has been said about Josey, but Karen’s image of her said it all. Karen almost laughed as she surveyed Josey’s blond, mile-high French twist, stacked atop her 5’7” frame. Of course, spiked heels created three of those inches. Brown eyes were outlined with a thick application of charcoal liner that contrasted sharply with her blond, penciled eyebrows.
Depending on the day, half moons of vivid blue, green or purple eye shadow, sat atop her eyelids. It was almost as if she wanted the viewer to overlook the commonness of her brown eyes and instead, see the color eyes she would have chosen for herself. Few people ever saw deep into those eyes. Like a picture a toddler colors, creatively neglecting the designated lines, her lips were evidence of an erratic scarlet red lipstick pencil gone astray.
Her ear lobes always dangled the most unusual items such as; miniature Eiffel towers, palm trees, hot dogs or four leaf clovers. Her cheekbones had pink, polka dot blush etched onto her coffee-colored leather skin, which was attributed to too many days sitting in the sun, slurping gin and tonics. Still in all, she was an attractive woman, in a bohemian sort of way.
The irritating snapping of her peppermint gum was as grating as her nasal, southern slurred speech. Her clip, clip, clippity way of walking in stilettos, set off a slow, sexual flow from her waist as hot as lava, through her tight Capri pants and all the way down her shapely calves. The eyes of the onlooker were always treated to some outlandish design obtained from Josey’s meticulous pedicures. Today it happened to be Zodiac signs, highlighted with wee sparkle stones.
If you could get her to quit waving those extra long cigarettes around, you would see her slender hands. Like her toes, Josey used her fingernails as a way of expressing herself. Her philosophy was, the Lord painted the sky and made rainbows for one purpose, to instruct women on how to use color and to assure them, the more color the better, as far as He was concerned. The length of her nails unnerved Karen. It got her thinking they could be a real safety issue. After all, how could one clean out their ears, use toilet paper effectively or safely apply feminine products with those talons?
Still, there was something about Josey that Karen related to. They both felt they had something to contribute spiritually into the lives of people. Now that’s not saying they were right on this assumption. In fact, it really was just a nice way of saying they were both very nosey people who liked to live their lives vicariously through other people.
Tootsie turned the footbath on and closed her eyes.
Karen whispered, “Josey, I never have understood your relationship with Tootsie. You both are complete opposites and yet you’ve been best friends since grade school. I know she’s your friend but she just irritates the heck out of me. Did you hear those sly remarks she made about me and Larry?”
Josey laughed as she fiddled with the shampoo dispenser.
“Karen, you two are like mixing a bull dog with a Great Dane. One grabs a hold and won’t let go and the other just bully’s its way in because it’s bigger. Tootsie and I go back a long way, and she’s one of the few women in this town that respects me, unlike the church prayer group. I know the only reason I am leading it, is because Pastor Foster set up that rotation business. Do you think any of those mutton headed women would have elected me as head of the prayer group? Like I don’t know the Bible as well as they do. Hell, I read it every night and sometimes God even gives me dreams and their interpretations, just like Daniel in the Bible.”
“Whoa,” laughed Karen, “are you trying to tell me God speaks to you in dreams? What did He have to say about that hurricane out there? Are we going to get it? And while you are in Never Never Land, does he ever mention my name?”
Josey roughly ran a brush through Karen’s hair. “No He didn’t say anything about that hurricane out there and you can laugh if you want, but how do you think I get all this spiritual insight? How is it I know about everyone’s problems in town?”
By peeping out that picture window that is the size of Texas, and pumping customers for information, that’s how, thought Karen. “Well, do you fast or pray before you get these dreams, these visions?” she asked.
Stay tuned for the next episode!
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