From Planet Texas, With Love and Aliens
Page 14
"Your mom cool with this?" Becca muttered as she brushed on more of the dye.
"My mom's not really around." Jackie didn't normally tell people this--it was really none of their business, but despite her awkwardness around Becca, she felt she could trust her.
"Oh, sorry."
"Not a big deal," said Jackie. She had an urge to sound grown up. "Long time ago."
Becca nodded and fixed on a palette of foil. "What's it with this Ember chick? You into Augments?"
"I guess. Well, not really." Augments weren't a "girl thing" and Jackie was always stumbling with what to say when people asked. If Mrs. Curren, her history teacher, were to be believed, they were weapons. Living weapons created by the world's superpowers. Only boys thought weapons were cool.
As she watched a skull-shaped ring on Becca's finger move in and out of her field of vision, she thought of how stupid she was being. Becca wasn't about to pass judgment.
"I just think she's, well, great," Jackie sputtered.
"Great, huh?" Becca sounded unimpressed.
"Well, my dad thinks so, too. He's always reading about her, watching her on the news."
"Not creepy," Becca mumbled, lost in her work. Jackie waited to see if she was going to apologize, but she didn't, so Jackie took it in stride.
"No, nothing like that. He's got a crush." She stopped at telling Becca about the news clippings on the ceiling of her room. How half of them had come from the trash Dad set out late one night after he'd had too many beers. The next morning, Jackie found the box full of pictures and stories by the curb. So carefully clipped and kept flat with crisp edges, they felt like something he cared about. He never asked what happened to the box. Even when he saw the clippings on her ceiling months later, he still didn't say a word, only stared.
Becca nodded, biting her lip as she applied another stroke. "Okay, so, he's got a crush. What about you?"
"I don't know. I sorta get her, you know? She's always standing up to the rogue Augments, helping people. I want to be like that." She almost added "when I grow up", but stopped herself.
Several more coats of color went on before Becca pulled out of her work to ask another question. "So, say Crimson Mask and Ember get in a fight, who wins?"
Now Becca was being stupid. Crimson Mask was maybe the most powerful Augment ever. "They don't fight. But if they did, Ember all the way."
"Yup," Becca barked. "Girl power, baby." She extended her fist for a bump then slumped back to examine her work. "Okay, I think we got it."
"Now what?"
"I clean this up, you get to sit and wait," Becca said, gathering her supplies. "I'll be right back."
Jackie felt the tension drain from her body. She almost wished it had stuck around.
She didn't have to wait long. Before she knew it, Becca was back and they were at the sink again, rinsing her hair. Fast and efficient, the earlier exhilaration was lost and Jackie began to feel anxious about seeing her hair free from the foil nest. When they got back to the station, Jackie stood in front of the mirror.
"Can we dry it?"
"Let it air dry. I promise, you'll love it."
"Oh, I love it now!"
Becca moved up behind her, gathering Jackie's hair into a sculpted ridge. "Yep, that would be hot. Want me to talk to your dad?"
Jackie felt her cheeks burn again. "No, thanks. He'll need to get used to this first."
He'd been shocked when she returned to the waiting room, but not half as shocked as when the receptionist rang them up. Jackie spread her allowance on the counter to fill the silence, and he eventually paid the difference, even leaving Becca a tip that earned them both a wink. This time, Dad blushed too, and she understood.
Later that day, when the breeze from the open windows on the jeep and Jackie's rushing around the house jumping across the furniture or leaping onto her bed had dried the last strand of hair, she dropped next to him on the couch and shook his arm to pry him from the glow of the television.
"Well, do I look like her?"
Jackie didn't understand why his red eyes grew damp. He took a swig of his beer before answering. "Yeah, baby. Just like her."
***
ABOUT THE EDITOR
Pat Hauldren is a writer and freelance editor in the Dallas/Fort Worth area of Texas, USA. A retired electronic technician and Quality Assurance Manager, Pat is now a full-time writer and editor at EditAlley.com. Pat writes poetry, Japanese Noh Drama, short stories, and nonfiction. Her nonfiction clients include FYI Television, North Texas eNews, Examiner.com, SavvyAuthors, SFReader, Marketing Tips for Authors, Next Century Publishing, and more. Her fiction has been published in Abandoned Towers, Bewildering Stories, Paradigm, Short & Twisted Christmas Tales, and more. She is currently working on her third speculative fiction novel.
Her first anthology as editor was Budding Poets II. From Planet Texas, With Love and Aliens is her first short story anthology.
Thank you for reading!
The North Texas Speculative Writing Workshop meets every 2nd Saturday of the month usually (at this writing) at the Barnes & Noble Bookstore in Hurst, Texas. We are an uncensored, free, and open to the public writing group for adults who write speculative fiction to publish in today’s market. Find out more about us at www.ntsfw.com/.
EXPLORE
Check out these publications by our North Texas Speculative Fiction Workshop contributing authors:
BECKY BURKHEART
The 33 Worst Mistakes Writers Make About Horses
The Blood Queen
Bloodcup: The Tale of the Last Amazon Queen
Budding Poets: Youth of Johnson County (editor)
Curse of the Thunder Jewel
The Shepherdess and the King (Herakles vs. Book 1)
Short & Twisted (co-editor)
Short & Twisted Fairy Tales (editor)
B. N. CARMAN
Winter’s edge: The Winter’s Edge Series Book 1
PATRICIA FERGUSON
Mars: The Next Frontier: An Anthology of Space Poetry (editor)
Moon: The Eighth Continent: An Anthology of Space Poetry (editor)
Short & Twisted (co-editor)
PAT HAULDREN
Budding Poets II (editor)
Lighthouse: Midnight Road (Volume 1) (editor)
Nexus Point (The Fall of the Altairan Empire Book 1) (editor)
RUSS LINTON
Pilgrim of the Storm (The Stormblade Saga Book 1)
Crimson Son
Empty Quiver: Tales from the Crimson Son Universe
LAURA MAISANO
Breaking the Schism: An Illirin Prequel
Schism: Illirin Book One
Unity: Illirin Book Two
M. L. MILLER
The Guardian of Gildain, Book 1: The Snow Dragon