"Every town needs a newspaper."
The noise from the door banging open halted the trim as both he and Chubby stopped and stared as Arabella waltzed into the shop.
"Oh good, all the people I need to see in one place!" she squeaked.
Phin all but visually cringed. was there nowhere safe from Miss Mudd? He was relieved when she spoke with Miss Cutts, and perhaps that was the reason for her impromptu visit to the barbershop.
"I wasn't aware you had a women's hairdresser in here with you. That my friend will bring in the business, wives do have a way with husbands." Then, just as suddenly:
"... and Mr McVey here's free tickets for every opening night this coming season..." she approached him and frowned at the sheet that covered him while he was shaved and shorn "... I'll just reach under and shove 'em in your trouser pocket..." she announced, doing so before he could stop her "Ooops, scuse fingers!"
Phin was stunned speechless as Arabella's wandering fingers sought to place the tickets in his pocket, however, with him seated, she had to force her way into his pocket, and just as inadvertently nudged something else, or was it inadvertently? He jerked upright with eyes as big around as saucers!
"Work is fine for killin' time, but it's a shaky way to make a living."
Ben watched as Arabella made her grand entrance. He was pretty much used to her antics by now even though the Excelsior Theater Company had only been back in town a few days. Eve had kept the company busy at the theatre preparing for their next production. Yesterday had been the first day that this latest version of Arabella had been unleashed on the unsuspecting public and today it looked she was not finished with this bout of self promotion.
Eve had told him that Arabella would be giving out the free tickets to some of their performances, he was convinced that one or two for each performance would be good for both her company and his theatre. She told him that these tickets would result in good word-of-mouth which was better than a hundred flyers. He had to agree with her but what Arabella did after consulting Miss Cutts was going too far with goodwill.
For a moment, he felt sorry for poor McVey as she shoved the tickets down his trouser pockets. However, it was her mention of giving him tickets for the whole season that irritated him the most. How was he supposed to make money if that girl kept giving tickets away?
"Oh, hello, Mr Simons, didn't see you there." she added as she took off her bonnet, noticing the Theatre owner last of all, or so it seemed.
"Miss Mudd," Ben said in a neutral tone that hid his irritation. There was no use telling the girl off here and besides would she listen? No, she wouldn't and so he had to think of a way to find out how to stop Arabella before he went broke.
@[Javia]
Though she really hadn't oughta criticise her elders and betters, Sally Cutts rolled her eyes a little as Mr Cox got totally distracted by where to hang the picture of Miss Mudd in her daring... but very religious!... theatre costume. Arabella barked directions at him "Up a bit, ... down a bit, ... no, it's wonky!!" while poor old Mr McVey sat there with one side of his hair neatly trimmed and the other side in a state of nature, and that poor handsome Mr Simons still sat there waiting his turn.
The hairdresser took up the scissors and started on the journalist's bonce, smiling at him sweetly in the mirror "I'll just finish you off, Mr McVey" she said and then turning to Ben, whose charms were not lost on the girl (for unlike Arabella, handsome men gave her weakness about the knees) she called over:
"I'll be right with you Mr Simons" and again that pretty, shy smile. She was actually a couple of years older that the actress, who was now out of the barber's chair and climbing up the wall to help hang her picture, but had not that young lady's boldness with men.
In the manner of all good hairdressers, Sally made some nice small talk with the customers.
"So, Mr Simons, it must be wonderful owning a theatre! Who is your favourite playwright?" she looked at him in the mirror as she gently angled Mr McVey's head to get at an over-long lock of his hair. She was just as good a barber as Chubby and had a lovely light touch on the veteran journalist's face and neck.
It was an inane enough question she had posed to the gambling man, Sally just hoped that she had looked pretty and intelligent when she asked it. But not too intelligent, of course, men didn't like that in a woman, did they?
Meanwhile Chubby and Arabella had disappeared into the back, looking for a 'nicer nail'
@Flip @JulieS
"Every town needs a newspaper."
"I'll just finish you off, Mr McVey"
"Oh, that would be just fine Miss Cutts, I didn't realize you were working here with Chubby." Phin said as she spoke to Simons. It was a novel idea having a female to be able to handle both the ladies as well as the men. This just might warrant a story in the next edition. It was actually news that a good half of Kalispell's population would find interesting to them personally, and that would be a good thing.
"Work is fine for killin' time, but it's a shaky way to make a living."
"I'll be right with you Mr Simons" and again that pretty, shy smile. She was actually a couple of years older that the actress, who was now out of the barber's chair and climbing up the wall to help hang her picture, but had not that young lady's boldness with men.
Ben was momentarily distracted by the show Arabella and Chubby were putting on, when he realised that the other lady was speaking to him.
"Er...yes that will be fine," he answered.
"So, Mr Simons, it must be wonderful owning a theatre! Who is your favourite playwright?" she looked at him in the mirror as she gently angled Mr McVey's head to get at an over-long lock of his hair. She was just as good a barber as Chubby and had a lovely light touch on the veteran journalist's face and neck.
My favourite playwright? Ben frowned slightly. He had no idea what to say as he didn't care who wrote the play as long as it was one that would bring in the customers. Like everything else in life, you had your good plays and you had your bad ones. A good play brought in the money while a bad one didn't. Eve Hardy also knew her stuff and if the play was bad or had a low attendance on the first night, she usually nixed it right then and there. Eve was a good woman with a level head and if he had a mind he might have pursue a relationship with her. However, she had made it clear to him privately that her interest laid elsewhere and it was one of the reasons why she had come back to Kalispell.
For his part Ben had decided to stay away from any woman who had marriage on her mind and that meant the nice, respectable types like Miss Cutts. Besides, he had made up his mind to wait until he was forty when he would find someone and settle down to raise a bunch of kids. Until then, he was a confirmed bachelor.
Realising that Miss Cutts was waiting for a reply, Ben smiled, "No favourites in particular. As long as the play has a good story and is entertaining, I'll happily watch it."
@ [Javia]
@ [Flip
Realising that Miss Cutts was waiting for a reply, Ben smiled, "No favourites in particular. As long as the play has a good story and is entertaining, I'll happily watch it."
“Oh!” Sally couldn’t help express her surprise. She thought a Theatre owner would have strong views on the matter, but what did she, a mere pot-girl know of such things. She walked over to examine the steamer in the corner and brought out a hot towel (not too hot) and put it on Mr McVey’s face – he could still talk, but he might be a bit muffled.
“Ohhhh, I wish I could afford to go to the theatre, I’ve never been. I’d like to see something real classy, like a Shakespeare play, or maybe a really funny comedy, or maybe something scary, or something tragical, like The Red Barn or The Old Curiosity Shop. Don’t you think Miss Mudd would make a very pathetic Little Nell?” she rattled on as she massaged some pomade into Phinn’s scalp.
“I asked that nice Mr Darling once, when he was in the saloon, who was the best actress in the troupe, and he said…” here she frowned and adopted the plummy theatrical tones of the Excelsior’s Leading Man “’… My dear girl, that is hardly in doubt: Miss Evelyn Hardy is one of the greatest living actresses on the American stage!’ and I asked him, well what about Miss Mudd, and he kinda laughed, like this ‘a-ha-ha-ha’ and then he said ‘Miss Mudd, I will concede, certainly takes the first prize for behaving like an actress!’ I don’t think he likes her much, but I do…” here she sighed a little and looked at the photograph of Arabella in her draughty attire “… she holds out such hope for other plain and shapeless girls, like me!”
Then she turned. Mr McVey was simmering nicely under his hot towel.
“Would you like me to do you now, Mr Simons, if you don’t mind a woman doing it? Mr Cox seems to have become embroiled.”
@[Flip] JulieS
"Every town needs a newspaper."
Phin sat the hot towel around the bearded area of his ace smiled under the peic of cotton. He had tickets sequestered irreverently by Arabella Mudd, and he could ask Miss Cutts to accompany him to the very next production. He decided that he would ask, if there was a problem because of Chubby and the possibility of a blossoming romance. If that were the case, then he would surrender both tickets to them.
He smiled. That would be the right thing to do.
@JulieS @Javia
"Work is fine for killin' time, but it's a shaky way to make a living."
“Ohhhh, I wish I could afford to go to the theatre, I’ve never been. I’d like to see something real classy, like a Shakespeare play, or maybe a really funny comedy, or maybe something scary, or something tragical, like The Red Barn or The Old Curiosity Shop. Don’t you think Miss Mudd would make a very pathetic Little Nell?” she rattled on as she massaged some pomade into Phinn’s scalp.
"She's pathetic that sure." The realising what he had just said, Ben quickly corrected himself, "Pathetic in the way the one needs to be in order to be an actress of her magnitude. I have no doubt she will have no problems playing a part like that."
“I asked that nice Mr Darling once, when he was in the saloon, who was the best actress in the troupe, and he said…” here she frowned and adopted the plummy theatrical tones of the Excelsior’s Leading Man “’… My dear girl, that is hardly in doubt: Miss Evelyn Hardy is one of the greatest living actresses on the American stage!’ and I asked him, well what about Miss Mudd, and he kinda laughed, like this ‘a-ha-ha-ha’ and then he said ‘Miss Mudd, I will concede, certainly takes the first prize for behaving like an actress!’ I don’t think he likes her much, but I do…” here she sighed a little and looked at the photograph of Arabella in her draughty attire “… she holds out such hope for other plain and shapeless girls, like me!”
If Arabella was the only hope for girls like Miss Cutts, all Ben could do was feel sorry for them.
“Would you like me to do you now, Mr Simons, if you don’t mind a woman doing it? Mr Cox seems to have become embroiled.”
Better him than me, he thought. He looked over at the door to the room where Chubby and Arabella had gone into. It wouldn't take long for them to find a nail and finish putting up that picture. Then what? If was in that chair when she returned, he would be trapped and he'd have to listen to whatever she had to say as well as try to answer any of a thousand questions or suggestions she would pepper at him.
The most logical thing to do was to leave and come back later but he didn't want to hurt Miss Cutts. She would probably take his sudden departure personally and that wouldn't do. Even though she wasn't his type, from what he had seen so far, she was a nice girl, and he would feel a heel for rejecting her offer.
Sighing, he nodded slowly as he got up and walked over to the chair. "All right, miss...let's see what you can do."
@ [Javia]
@ [Flip
Sighing, he nodded slowly as he got up and walked over to the chair. "All right, miss...let's see what you can do."
Sally started work on Mr Simons, 'shave and a haircut, two bits'. Funny how people were different. She found that she had started to see people differently when she dressed their hair - or rather, she saw them more clearly.
Mr Simons, for instance: she didn't actually have to do much to him he was pretty prefect already: smooth chin, perfect curly hair, symmetrically handsome. Unlike Mr McVey, he probably attended to his coiffure every day or so. But for all that, there was something hard and impenetrable to him: like a hard billiard ball. She felt that Mr Ben Simons knew who he was and what he wanted in life and where he was going: there wasn't a lot of room for the kinks and detours of life with him.
Mr McVey on the other hand, well he was a mess; craggy lived in face, sort of ugly in a way, stubbly, balding on top. But he was a bit like the creases and laugh lines and worry lines on his face, full of peaks and troughs. As she had cut his hair she had occasion to look - really look at him. With Mr McVey, it wasn't merely that he had lived his life to the full - it was more that he was still living it, staggering from day to day, perhaps, but with the open possibility that anything could happen in that day.
When she had cut his hair, she had done away with the comb over he was starting to affect to disguise his thinning locks, she had cut his greying thatch quite close, his experience, the wear and tear of his life was nothing to hide, it was something to showcase. When he walked out of this barber shop today, he would look a different man - or rather the opposite; he would like himself.
Chubby and Arabella came back laughing.
"Well, I've never seen anything like that before!"
"I'm not even sure what it was!"
"Oh, you've... well thanks Sally!" Cox beamed, seeing that Sal had done his job for him.
Arabella, curious as ever, couldn't help pulling off Phin's hot towel and getting a look at his new shaven and cropped look. Instead of laughing, as she had expected to, she sort of gasped.
"Oh Sally Cutts, what have you done to Mister McVey? ... He actually looks..." what did he look? "... admirable!!"
She smiled, the unaffected smile she did allow herself sometimes, and bent and gave him an affectionate little kiss on the cheek.
She patted where she had just kissed "Now... good reviews from you!" she ordered and flounced out with a "Do me later!" to Sally.
"Every town needs a newspaper."
Stunned twice in one day by Arabella Mudd was far beyond what he had expected when he came in for a shave and a trim. The peck and pat on the cheek left him with his mouth agape under the towel, which hung askew. There seemed to be something he wanted to say, words he wanted to annunciate, but they failed to come out. He just stared at the door through which she had departed.
At last, he replaced the warm towel over his mouth, still fighting to get the words out about what had just happened.
"My God!" He blurted out, "What just happened?"