Bodies lay strewn as far as the eye could see. Some were behind light curtains, some had been placed in a sitting position. Some of them had white faces, some were green, some the colour of earth. All of them were clad in white. My five year old recoiled, buried her head in my thigh, and clung on to the rest of the limb for dear life.
"Mama..! " she muttered, " There are no sleeping beauties here only ghosts ! Co..Co.. Come on lets get out. " She tugged at the afore mentioned limb as hard as she could, trying to get us to leave.
I started to shush her up, trying to explain the whole concept of a parlor to her. Titters rose from all around us, the 'dead ' bodies having come to life at her words. Added to that must have been the sight of myself, trying to balance on one leg, the other flailing in the air even as the tot refused to relinquish it.
Teetering and shouting at her, the inevitable happened. I lost my balance ending up clutching at a chair to avoid falling. Unfortunately the chair had a body.. errr.. lady in it. Lulled no doubt by the soothing hands of her masseuse, she had dropped off to sleep. The next thing she knew she had been whirled around a couple of times, make that six. The combined shrieks of the lady, myself, the kid, and the rest of the ladies who had been in serene repose up until then, had a passing police man burst in. To which the shrieks grew louder, as the half clad ladies rose as one, sheets clutched to chest.
My first instinct had been to grab the kid and flee, but struck by conscience and horror, mostly the latter, i stood rooted to the spot, the kid clutched possessively to my chest.
After profuse apologies, and half baked stuttered explanations on my part, some normalcy was restored. The good humored among the ladies, were convulsed with laughter, the morose, indignant ones muttered darkly, glaring at my kid whose face was buried somewhere deep among an unmentionable part of my anatomy.
"Ai there, Anna ! See what madam wants," the command came from the tall lady, surrounded by minions. The owner of the parlor, she had had her work disrupted, but had been gracious enough to not chase us out forthwith. A hay stack, or rather a hair stack on the floor rocked. From behind it a young girl arose hurriedly. Apparently, she had sought refuge behind the stack when the policeman had barged in. A peremptory "Anna !" had her hurriedly say," Ya madam, what do you want done ? "
I emerged from the parlor with a brand new hairstyle, my joey, still clutching my pouch in a death grip.
"What happened, " exclaimed the hubby when he saw us. "I thought you had gone to have the baby"s hair cut.." Sinking down onto the sofa, I muttered, "It's a long story.."
"Mama..! " she muttered, " There are no sleeping beauties here only ghosts ! Co..Co.. Come on lets get out. " She tugged at the afore mentioned limb as hard as she could, trying to get us to leave.
I started to shush her up, trying to explain the whole concept of a parlor to her. Titters rose from all around us, the 'dead ' bodies having come to life at her words. Added to that must have been the sight of myself, trying to balance on one leg, the other flailing in the air even as the tot refused to relinquish it.
Teetering and shouting at her, the inevitable happened. I lost my balance ending up clutching at a chair to avoid falling. Unfortunately the chair had a body.. errr.. lady in it. Lulled no doubt by the soothing hands of her masseuse, she had dropped off to sleep. The next thing she knew she had been whirled around a couple of times, make that six. The combined shrieks of the lady, myself, the kid, and the rest of the ladies who had been in serene repose up until then, had a passing police man burst in. To which the shrieks grew louder, as the half clad ladies rose as one, sheets clutched to chest.
My first instinct had been to grab the kid and flee, but struck by conscience and horror, mostly the latter, i stood rooted to the spot, the kid clutched possessively to my chest.
After profuse apologies, and half baked stuttered explanations on my part, some normalcy was restored. The good humored among the ladies, were convulsed with laughter, the morose, indignant ones muttered darkly, glaring at my kid whose face was buried somewhere deep among an unmentionable part of my anatomy.
"Ai there, Anna ! See what madam wants," the command came from the tall lady, surrounded by minions. The owner of the parlor, she had had her work disrupted, but had been gracious enough to not chase us out forthwith. A hay stack, or rather a hair stack on the floor rocked. From behind it a young girl arose hurriedly. Apparently, she had sought refuge behind the stack when the policeman had barged in. A peremptory "Anna !" had her hurriedly say," Ya madam, what do you want done ? "
I emerged from the parlor with a brand new hairstyle, my joey, still clutching my pouch in a death grip.
"What happened, " exclaimed the hubby when he saw us. "I thought you had gone to have the baby"s hair cut.." Sinking down onto the sofa, I muttered, "It's a long story.."
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