Family Business

Chapter 1: On the Island

     The sky was tangerine above the Brooklyn Bridge. Silhouettes of the floating clouds filled the background. The air was humid as the bodies of dozens of busy people hustled through the streets of Staten Island. It was a typical summer day in New York.

     On 10th Street, there was a plain, two-level house with beige siding and a long driveway. Many power lines ran in front of the house, and a few telephone wires hung from the top level. While the small residence appeared to be dull on the outside, inside, it was a hot mess. Mold covered the ceilings, and the brown carpet looked like it was from the 80s. In the outdated bathrooms, hundreds of hair products were stuffed in the cabinets and covered the countertops.

     Three young ladies by the names of Julie, Alina, and Nikki lived in the crappy house. They owned and worked at a mildly successful hair salon just a few blocks away, yet clearly did not have their shit together.

     "Alina!" Julie yelled while rummaging through the drawers of the upstairs bathroom. "Where did you put the pink hair dye? I have to be out the door in five minutes for an appointment, so you better know where it is!"

     "It's in the bathroom downstairs!" Alina yelled back from her bedroom.

     "God, why does she always move everything?" Julie mumbled to herself.

     After running down the squeaky wooden stairs, Julie opened the medicine cabinet in the downstairs bathroom and was delighted to see the pink hair dye staring back at her. She grabbed the hair dye and ran out the door to the 2002 silver Honda Civic that the three girls shared.

     "Wait, Julie!" Alina yelled, standing on the stoop. "You forgot your bag!" She was too late. Julie had already sped off to the hair salon.

     Before Julie made a right turn, an SUV swerved and almost crashed into her car. She rolled the window down in fury. "Hey, mother fucker! You almost smacked up my car!" The driver, who was an Italian guy about the same age as her, gave Julie the middle finger. "Get a fuckin life, asshole!" Julie yelled back. Slumping back in the driver's seat with a deep breath, Julie continued on her way.

     Finally, Julie parallel parked in front of a small shop that read "Dye 4 U." She took the keys, locked the car, and ran inside with one minute to spare. Nikki was on the phone with a client while working at the front desk of the salon as Julie came in, huffing and puffing after rushing in. Nikki smiled and hung up the phone.

     "Late again, Julie?" Nikki said with a grin.

     "I'm not late; I'm right on time," Julie replied in a nasty tone.

     "Well, Mrs. Lombardi has been waiting here for ten minutes, so get to work," Nikki said.

     Julie rolled her eyes and motioned for Mrs. Lombardi to follow her to the back. While she loved Alina and Nikki, Julie sometimes hated living with her crazy best friends, even though she was actually the craziest of the trio. Then again, she would probably be living on the streets if she didn't have two people there to push her every day.

     Julie started to dye Mrs. Lombardi's hair pink. Even though she was a 67-year-old woman, Mrs. Lombardi wanted her hair to be pink since she had recently discovered that she was finally free of breast cancer. After Julie put aluminum foil all over Mrs. Lombardi's head, leaving her to look a bit like a robot, she let her sit with the dye in her hair for an hour. After cleaning up the area, Nikki rushed over with an excited face and took Julie to the side.

     "Julie, you are never going to believe it!" Nikki exclaimed while trying to keep her voice quiet. "The Italian band, Maneskin, is coming into our salon later! They are performing at the Radio City Music Hall tonight and need us to do their hair and makeup!"

     Julie stood there with wide eyes and an open mouth. She could not believe the exciting news. If the workers at the salon did a good job, all of Maneskin's fans and rich celebrity friends would spread the word about the hair salon, which would bring in more business.

     "Oh my god, that is amazing!" Julie finally replied. "We need to cancel the rest of the appointments for today and clean everything. Start making phone calls right away to the customers who were booked to come in today. I will text Alina to get her ass over here. We need as many employees as possible. This is probably going to be the biggest job we have ever done."

     Nikki quickly shook her head and ran over to the front desk to start making phone calls. Julie went to get her phone out of her bag but realized her bag wasn't there.

     "Fuck!" Julie yelled to herself. "I really need to get my shit together."