Chino led Pam across the parking lot and stopped just in front of the window of an empty store.
“What is it? Pam asked, cupping her hands around her eyes, looking in the window. “It’s empty.”
“It’s empty for right now. But close your eyes and imagine it full of people. People getting their wig done in our very own beauty shop.”
“What?” Pam turned toward him excitedly. “Are you kidding me?”
“Nope.” He pulled a key out of his pocket, stuck it into the lock, unlocked the door, and led Pam inside. “What do you think?”
Pam looked around and grinned. “Chino, I love it! It’s perfect!”
Chino and Pam walked through the empty store and took everything in.
“I could put my hair dryers against this wall, and my sinks against this wall. We could line up the chairs over here for the beauticians.”
“We could put the lounge area over there,” Chino said, pointing, “and we could put a play area for kids over in the corner.”
“Ooooh, that’s a great idea!” Pam grinned. “We can put toys and children’s books, and coloring books, and blocks and shit in the corner for the kids.”
“Not too much though,” Chino warned. “We don’t want people dropping their bad-ass kids off here and jetting for a while like we some damn day care.”
They both laughed.
“What do you think about a barbershop on that side?” Pam asked.
“Of course, boo. Let’s do it all. We ain’t leaving no money behind. We need to cut hair, do hair, nails, pedicures, manicures, the works. Shit, if we wouldn’t get in trouble, I’d say throw a massage parlor in the back too.”
“Nuh-uh,” Pam told him. “We know what goes on in those things.” She looked around eagerly and a smile crossed her face. “Oh, Chino, I really want this to happen!”
“What are you talking about, Pooh? This is going to happen.” Chino emphasized the word going. “We are going to open this shop, and you are going to manage it. Do you think you’re up to managing a shop?”
“Yeah. This is something that I’ve always wanted to do! I’ve always wanted my own business.”
“Well, now you’ve got it, but remember, the purpose of the shop is twofold, baby girl. We are going to really do hair and run a business, but we are going to inflate the numbers so I can wash my money through the shop.”
Pam nodded. She understood, but what Chino was saying wasn’t important at the moment. This was her chance to build her dream shop. The shop that she always wanted to go to when she got her hair done. Everything would be just perfect. “I want this to be the best shop in the world! I want it to be luxurious. Almost like a spa experience.”
“Maybe one day we can get the space next door and turn it into a full-blown spa and beauty salon.”
“That would be fly. We could cater to the sisters who don’t feel comfortable going to those white spas.”
Chino looked at his watch. “I’m glad you like it, Pooh, because the contractor should be here any minute.”
Surprised by what he had just said, Pam crossed her arms across her chest and pouted. “What if I didn’t like it?”
“Ah, baby girl, I knew you would.”
“Yeah, what makes you so confident about that?”
Walking toward Pam, Chino put his hands on her hips and pulled her toward him. “Pooh, do you know how long and hard I looked for a place like this? Everything else that I ran across, I knew you wouldn’t like. I know my Pooh and she has class. Everything you visualized in here”—he nodded with his head—“I did too.”
“You know me so well.” Pam winked and kissed Chino on his lips. Breaking away from his grasp, Pam became even more hype. “Chino, I want this to be top-notch. I want coming here to be an experience, one that’s different from all the other salons. I want jazz music playing over a stereo system. I want to serve beverages like coffee, tea, soda, juice, and bottled water. I want mirrors all along this wall and this wall, and I want a lot of chrome. I want it to be really modern and futuristic.”
Chino nodded. “We can hook that up. We’re gonna need a name for this futuristic and luxurious shop. I was thinking of calling it Pam’s at first.”
Pam shook her head. “Oh hell no! It has to be something flier than that!”
Chino grabbed her, pulled her close, and wrapped his arms around her. “How about we call it Pooh’s?”
“Boy, please!” Pam pulled away and turned to face him. “Be serious!” Mocking a fake customer, Pam jibbed, “Girl, where you get yo hair done? I got my hair done at Pooh’s.” They both laughed. It sounded ghetto as hell.
“Okay, since that’s out, how about Divas?” Chino suggested.
“Divas. Hmm . . . ,” Pam said, mulling it over. “Maybe. We’ll keep that one in mind.”
“How about D’Elegance, like the Cadillac?”
“I think not!”
“How about Eloquence?”
Pam shrugged and pursed her lips. “Those are stripper names, Chino!”
Chino burst into laughter because she was right. “Okay, how about Turning Heads?”
“Turning Heads?” Pam smiled. “I like that. I like it a lot.”
“How about Lasting Impressions?” Chino spit out.
“Yeah, but those names are kinda ghetto. I wanted something more classy.”
“Call it A Touch of Class,” Chino suggested.
“That’s real ghetto!” Pam said. “I want it to be classy and sassy and urban, but without being ghetto . . . something eloquent.”
“That’s it!” Chino grinned from ear to ear.
“What’s it?”
“Eloquent. We’ll call the shop Eloquent.”
Pam pondered for a moment. She liked the name but there was something missing. “Not just Eloquent. It needs to be jazzier than that.”
“What if we just played on that word?” Chino suggested. “What if we called it L O Quent?” he said, pausing between the syllables.
A smile spread across Pam’s face. “I like it. L O Quent,” she repeated. “In fact, I love it! That’s what we’ll call it! L O Quent Beauty Salon.”
A car pulled up to the shop and stopped. It was a blue Cutlass Supreme with black faces inside. Out of pure instinct, Chino whipped out his strap.
“Chino!”
“Hold on, baby!” he said, waving Pam out of the way.
“It’s just a group of females!” Pam shouted, seeing the girls exit the car, laughing and walking toward a Chinese takeout restaurant two stores down.
“What?” he asked. He heard her, but didn’t.
“They were females.”
Chino looked out the window and saw the last of the girls enter the Chinese food place. After a deep sigh, he tucked his pistol back into the small of his back and pulled his shirt down over it.
“What’s wrong with you?” Pam asked.
“I ain’t taking no chances, baby. I ain’t gonna get caught slipping.”
“Chino, look where we’re at. We’re in a nice area. Can you just, for once, leave that stuff behind us? For me? Please?”
“That stuff is getting us where we need to be, Pooh. That’s a part of me. My life.”
“I understand that, Chino, and I’m not knocking it. Just look around us. If anything were to look shady, don’t you think it would have been noticed before now?”
Chino nodded. Pam was right. They were in a nice area and it was doubtful that Jo Jo or anyone else would prowl this area looking for dope dealers to jack. Although he had run into Jo Jo at an upscale shopping center last time, that had purely been an accident.
“Chino, look at me,” Pam said softly.
Chino turned and looked into her eyes.
“We are trying to make a better life for ourselves,” she explained. “We have a new apartment, we are opening up a business, and pretty soon you’ll be able to leave that lifestyle behind. We are making a fresh start, baby. We are creating a whole new world for ourselves, but in order to do that, you are going to have to take the first steps of leaving the old world behind. A new life, Christonos. That’s what we are building.”
Chino nodded, walked to the glass window, and gazed out. Pam had so much hope for this new world that they were building that he couldn’t tell her the truth. He couldn’t tell her that once you have a reputation for being a baller, you’ll always have it. Even if you no longer sell dope, people will assume it’s because you got enough to get out of the game. And if you’ve got enough money to retire from the dope game, then that just makes you an even bigger target for jackers. Chino knew he would always have an X on his back in Columbus and the only way out would be to leave, and that’s what he planned to do—wash his paper through the salon and then get them the hell out of Columbus. Chino just hoped that he wouldn’t die trying.