J.D. and the Family Business

by J. Dillard

  And this year, me and Vanessa were in the same class.

  None of my friends from peewee football, like Jordan, Xavier, Eddie, or Jessyka, had to go to Vacation Bible School. That meant lots of time with Vanessa.

  “Does anyone know the difference between John the Baptist and John, the disciple?” Ms. Smith asked.

  Ms. Smith worked at the local library. I wished Grandma and Granddad had been assigned to my age group, but I think they signed up to teach other kids on purpose.

  “Once Vacation Bible School is over in a week, we’ll have more time on our hands,” Vanessa whispered as she leaned over to me. “We’ll be able to work on our videos.”

  “I know,” I said, “and I’ve been thinking about how to make them better. We need new, catchy names. I’m calling myself J.D. the Kid Barber. You can’t just be Vanessa. That’s boring.”

  Vanessa sort of scrunched her nose at me.

  “YOUR name’s boring,” she said under her breath.

  But later, when we were supposed to be answering questions in our workbooks, I could see her writing new names all over the pages.

  At recess, after Vanessa finished her double Dutch round, she ran over to me and said, “How about ‘Vanessa the Kid Stylist’? It matches your name, which makes sense since we are brother and sister.”

  “NO!” I told her. “You can’t copy me.”

  “Fine,” she said. “That was my second choice, anyway. How about ‘Vanessa Does It All’?”

  “Now, that has a good ring to it,” I said.

  * * *

  »»««

  A lot of kids stayed at the church for a few hours after the day was done if their parents couldn’t pick them up right after. Me and Vanessa stayed late because Grandma was one of the caretakers and Granddad had to bring Justin here from the babysitter, pick up Mom, and head to his burial insurance visits.

  We liked staying with the littler kids. The church basement had plenty of space to play hide and seek. And so did the sanctuary, where Vanessa pointed out the video equipment Pastor Harris used to record his sermons.

  “I bet we could make a great video with that camera, J.D.!” It sounded like she had already made up her mind.

  Vanessa reached into the little purse she kept on her and pulled out something she called an SD card.

  “Jessyka gave me this since I don’t have a phone,” she said. “The last time I was at her house, she showed me how her parents put it into their camera before they push the record button. It’s blank, and she told me I could keep it so I’d be ready if I ever got a camera.”

  We stopped when we heard some sniffles coming from the corner. A little girl named Kay Kay was sitting by herself with her hair unraveled.

  “Do you need help?” I asked.

  Kay Kay told us that her barrettes fell off while she was playing, and she couldn’t find them. They were shaped like bumblebees.

  “My bumblebees flew away,” she said, her shoulders sinking.

  “I can fix your hair!” Vanessa said.

  “But my barrettes are LOST!”

  “Hold on,” Vanessa told her. “Let me go get my brothers.”

  Vanessa asked me to go get Justin, who was playing tag. We’d need his help.

  “J.D., I am going to fix Kay Kay’s hair and I want you to record it,” she said. “I just need fifteen minutes in the sanctuary with that camera. Justin can be our lookout.”

  I was shocked. Wasn’t this lying somehow? It was definitely sneaking.

  “Are you serious, Vanessa?”

  “Don’t be so scared all the time, J.D.,” she said. “Trust me.”

  She walked by Grandma casually, like she wasn’t about to tell a big lie. At church!

  “Grandma,” she said. “Me, Justin, J.D., and Kay Kay are going to go outside and play in the back for a bit.”

  Half the kids during after care would stay inside and play tag or board games, while the other half would go outside behind the church for football or double Dutch.

  “Okay,” Grandma told us. “I’ll come outside and get you when Granddad has come back with your mom.”

  Vanessa nodded in the direction of the stairs. It was her way of telling me to go to the sanctuary while the three of them headed outside. I understood that my job would be to open the door from the inside after the other three walked around to the front of the church and knocked.

  I heard Vanessa knock, and I opened the door. She was carrying Justin in her arms.

  “Justin, I’m gonna give you a job,” Vanessa said.

  “Okay!” Justin nodded. He liked when we included him. He was a great helper, too. He was my very first client and barber assistant.

  “Me and Kay Kay are gonna go into the sanctuary with J.D. I need you to stand on this chair and look out the window. If you see someone coming, just yell “Amen!”

  Vanessa reached for a stray chair, gave Justin a Spider-Man figure that she had in her purse, and stood Justin on top of the seat.

  This was getting scary!

  “Do you think you can remember that?” she asked.

  “I think so!” Justin said.

  “Good,” Vanessa said. “Me and Kay Kay will be right behind you.”

  My heart pounded a little bit. No one was allowed to be in the sanctuary during Vacation Bible School, not even teachers. They wanted it to stay extra clean and neat for Sunday service.

  Vanessa moved like someone who knew what they were doing. It was always like that.

  She walked over to the camera that was behind the last pew on the right side of the sanctuary. She removed the SD card that was already inside the camera and put in Jessyka’s.

  “Kay Kay, come sit on this stool and I’ll fix your hair,” she said. “J.D., make sure I’m in the frame and hit the record button.”

  Was this really a school project Vanessa wanted help with, or was this just an excuse to boss me around all summer? How was I going to become famous standing behind the camera instead of in front of it?

  I walked over to the camera and looked at the screen to make sure Vanessa and Kay Kay were on it. When I pressed record and pointed at Vanessa, she jumped right in.

  VANESSA: Hi! This is Vanessa Does It All again!

  VANESSA: Have you ever had a hair emergency? My little friend here lost her barrettes, but I’m going to show her, and you, how to turn a hair emergency into a great hair day!

  * * *

  »»««

  Vanessa pulled out a comb and went to work. She parted Kay Kay’s hair in the back and made two even braids up the back of her head. Next, she took one of the rubber bands that held Kay Kay’s unraveled twists and pulled the front of her hair into a spongy, bouncy puff.

  VANESSA: Ta-da! That’s your micro-video for today. This emergency is over!

  VANESSA: Bye-byyyeeeeeeeeeee!

  I took that as a sign to turn off the camera. Vanessa came over to remove her SD card and put the pastor’s back in.

  “Kay Kay, do you like your hair?” Vanessa asked, pulling out a mini mirror from her purse.

  It seemed like she had a whole mini beauty supply store in that bag.

  Kay Kay nodded happily.

  “Good,” Vanessa said softly. “Now, let’s go before Grandma comes looking for us.”

  It was a good thing she was done. Justin wasn’t even looking out the window anymore. He was just sitting on the chair shooting fake spider webs out of his wrist. Some lookout!

  Back outside, Vanessa and Kay Kay jumped right into double Dutch without missing a beat while I stayed with Justin.

  We had another video. But I wasn’t even in it!

  CHAPTER 6

  The Cutting Room Floor

  We did not film another video until after Vacation Bible School was over a week later. I told Vanessa I thought it was to
o risky.

  “You’re just a big scaredy-cat!” she said.

  But I wasn’t! The summer before, I got caught sneaking off to Jordan’s house during recess, and I had to copy pages out of an encyclopedia for two weeks straight. Granddad had a whole collection of them, and that was his favorite punishment. I didn’t like it because my hand hurt, but I did learn some interesting facts.

  We returned to our regular routine of homework in the morning before playing with our friends. Grandma went back to teaching art classes at the rec center and took Justin with her most days. Granddad still stayed home with us until around three o’ clock.

  Even though we spent a lot of time together, he never let me cut his hair, no matter how good I had gotten.

  “Justin and Mom are satisfied customers,” I told him. “Can I do you next, Granddad?”

  “A man’s barber is sacred, J.D., and I already have one.”

  Granddad drove just outside of Meridian every four to six weeks to get his hair cut. The barbershop was small, with only one barber. Once, when he took me, I had to wait with him all day! I never asked to go back. I could tell Granddad was just good friends with the guy and liked going to catch up. That’s how I felt when my friends were in my chair.

  When we were done with our lessons, we asked Granddad if he could drive us to Jessyka’s house.

  “Did you ask her parents?”

  “YES!” we both shouted.

  Jessyka usually wore her hair in two big ponytail twists during the school year. But in the summer, she got tiny little braids with beads attached to the ends.

  “Now I only have to get my hair done every two weeks,” she told us.

  I thought it looked so cool. But when she told me it took six hours to finish, I thought, I’ll stick to doing short styles.

  “Guess what we did, Jessyka,” Vanessa said while holding up the SD card. “We filmed a hair video at church.”

  “What?” Jessyka replied. “How’d you do that without getting caught?”

  Vanessa explained the whole story. I started sweating again just hearing it.

  Jessyka took us down to her basement, where her family kept their computer and video equipment.

  “How do you know how to use this stuff, Jessyka?” I asked.

  “Some of the girls from my coding club showed me,” she said.

  “Geez, how do you have time to do so much?” I asked.

  Jessyka sighed, like she was wondering the same thing.

  “My parents make a calendar each month, with different colors for each activity throughout the day,” she said. “It looks like a rainbow.”

  I suddenly felt glad that I only had to cut hair, play football, and do homework. It left room for drawing. Those were things I liked to do anyway.

  “My parents want me to try everything,” Jessyka added. “I only like some stuff, though, like this.”

  I watched as she inserted the SD card into one of the computers. A few seconds later, our video started.

  It was very echoey and pretty dark. It wasn’t lit like Sunday service, and I think the room was better for singing than talking.

  “There’s only so much we can do to fix this,” Jessyka said. “I don’t think it’s going to be usable.”

  Vanessa looked disappointed. I was relieved.

  “Vanessa, someone from church was going to see it, and then everyone would know we were in the sanctuary,” I said. “Let’s just film some more videos in normal places.”

  My sister shrugged.

  “Let me show you something I’ve been working on,” Jessyka said. She pulled up a bright gold logo that said Kidz Cutz Hair and Nailz!

  “Voilà! This can be a part of our intro,” she said. “What do you think?”

  Me and Vanessa looked at each other, amazed.

  “Maybe we can turn this into something big!” I said.

  “Maybe?” Vanessa replied. “Forget THAT. This IS something big!”

  “Jessyka, do you think you’ll be able to work with us on this idea?” Vanessa asked.

  “Well, I hope so. My dad enrolled me in summer tennis camp, but I don’t really want to go,” she said. “I’d rather practice adding special effects to videos.”

  Jessyka did look happier in this basement than I’d ever seen her.

  “Well, tell him it’s for school!” Vanessa said. “That’s not really a lie. I want to submit these videos for the Junior Business Scholars Program. It’s due in a month.”

  We clearly needed Jessyka’s help. The video we did by ourselves looked terrible. We’d never get any views! Plus, I knew that working on videos made Jessyka happy. I hoped she could do it. But if not, we needed a backup plan.

  CHAPTER 7

  Lights, Camera, Action!

  On Monday, I interrupted our kitchen-table lesson on the Mississippi state bird, flower, animal, and the history of the Mississippi Delta to share an idea for our next video with Vanessa.

  “What do you think about this?” I asked.

  I had written a little script on a piece of paper and slid it to her. The last time I was allowed to use the computer, I had searched for tips on becoming a good YouTuber, and one of the top suggestions was to write out what you wanted to film before you got started. There was even a template that showed me how to do it.

  If I wanted to be in front of the camera, I couldn’t wait for my big sister’s permission. I had to write myself in.

  J.D. THE KID BARBER CUTS A HI-TOP FADE WITH A RULER

  SCRIPT BY J.D. JONES

  AUDIO:

  Hey, everybody, which one of my friends is going to win a free haircut today?

  VIDEO:

  EDDIE, JORDAN, AND XAVIER put their names in a hat. We pull one out and the winner gets a special haircut by J.D. the Kid Barber.

  AUDIO:

  Oh, look, it’s (whichever friend’s name was pulled out of the hat).

  Sit down and let’s have a look at what J.D. the Kid Barber can do!

  Tell the audience what you want, bro!

  VIDEO:

  J.D. sits the “winner” down in a barber chair. He spins him around three times and puts a piece of toilet paper around his neck and a bedsheet over his clothes.

  AUDIO:

  A hi-top fade looks hard, but it’s only three steps. 1) Pick out the hair as high as you can. 2) Take your barber shears and even out the shape all around. 3) Fade the sides and create an edge.

  Then I have my special trick: a ruler!

  VIDEO:

  J.D. picks out the winner’s hair and blow-dries it. Then he begins to shape the hi-top with a trimmer.

  AUDIO:

  And for extra credit, you can cut a design! Start with lines and half moons, and soon you’ll be up to Marvel characters or whatever else you want.

  VIDEO:

  J.D. begins to sketch out a design with his edger.

  AUDIO:

  I’m done!

  VIDEO:

  J.D. fills in the design with a colored pencil.

  AUDIO:

  That’s J.D. the Kid Barber, signing off!

  VIDEO:

  Everyone jumps up and down and congratulates J.D. on a job well done.

  VIDEO:

  THE END.

  Vanessa read the script in silence and then turned to me to make a face.

  “Where’s my part?” she asked.

  “Well, the video you shot in church was all you!” I said.

  “We had no choice in church because no one else could be the director except you! We’ll have extra help so we can both be in the next one. The whole point of us doing these videos together is so we can get boys and girls to watch our channel,” she said.

  I still wasn’t sure how we could make a good video with the two of us. Wouldn’t it be really long?
<
br />   “How about we alternate videos? One week it’s you, one week it’s me.”

  She didn’t look convinced, and I knew I had to think of something else fast.

  “Remember, I left my job at Hart and Son for this. If no one starts watching our channel, I’m going to go back to work. I don’t want to be behind my friends in their comic collections.”

  I crossed my arms at the end for emphasis.

  Vanessa sighed.

  “Fine,” she said. “My first video with Jessyka and Lisa is already up, and this week we’ll add your idea. But don’t forget who started this whole YouTube channel!”

  “And don’t you forget that you got this whole hair idea from me! I won the Great Barber Battle!”

  “I always did my own hair!” she said. “Even before you were born!”

  We were getting pretty loud, and Granddad called for quiet from the other room.

  “Okay, kids, I think you need a pop quiz!”

  I didn’t even have time to figure out how he snuck up behind us before he asked, “What’s the state flower and animal—in that order please, J.D.”

  I took a deep breath. I had spent all morning writing my script!