LALAKI

Heads and Bodies - III

10:11 PM
June 5, 2019
Bajada Town Square
J.P. Laurel Ave. corner Lacson St., Bajada, Davao City, Davao del Sur, Philippines.
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The pavements were wet and the entire world was in mute. Victoria Plaza had no lights,  the buildings had no lights, and post lights were on but they gave off an unfriendly orange. Not a single soul in sight.

Every human being in Davao City was inside Bajada Town Square, full of life and lights. It seemed everyone had forgotten about everything else except for this merriment; I made my way inside, thankfully people weren't staring at me or giving me the side eye, I didn't feel out of place. The scent of burnt smoke violated my nose; the endless chatter, laughter, and singing corroded my ears. The live band finished with Eraserheads and now was proceeding with "Ang Bandang Shirley's Tama Na ang Drama" There were food stalls around cooking barbecue skewers, hotdogs, and Potato Corners. The makeshift stage had a lot of disco balls that illuminated the place and gave it a lively glow, the whole place was filled with bright light bullet holes. I wanted to grab a snack, a hotdog, or something but I didn't want to waste my time. I scoped around for a Hair and Nail Salon on the ground floor but I couldn't find any, so I climbed to the second floor, this area was less occupied compared to the ground floor. You had a T-shirt printing store, and some hip and cool milk tea stores, and then after a few glances, I spotted it.

"OEDIPA HAIR AND NAIL SALON" in bright neon purple fonts with a pink background with glitters. It had a glass sliding door with pink curtains blocking any view from the inside. It was located in the middle, between a sex toy store and a Davao Rage Room

For some reason out of all the stores on the second floor, out of the beige, gray, white, and black colors of logos and interiors and exteriors. These stores only stand out as having any distinct personality and candor. Davao Rage's room was fiery red, and the Sex toy store was a velvet red. Funnily enough of all the available area spaces. I don't know why Oedipa's Hair and Nail Salon chose to be in the middle of a sex store and aggression vent service.

Regardless I went inside, the area was decently big, there were around few people inside, one was catering to someone's manicure, and another was handling someone's hair bleaching. One was on a couch near the entrance aggressively yelling at its child to add and divide. The child was only wearing a sando at its top and brown school pants at the bottom. The interiors were painted bright pink, the only ventilation in the room was this tall centralized aircon that was smoking cold. A few plants surround it. A small flatscreen was mounted at the wall, at TV-5 broadcasting a Tagalized dub of Arnold Schwarzenegger's Eraser (1996) I scoped around for Paul's description. She's in her 40's, with red dyed hair, circular shades, floral long sleeves, and black leggings.

It didn't take me long enough to spot her at the counter at the end, she was vaping and reading a dog-eared copy of a King James version Bible. She was looking at someone down, perhaps a kid was doing homework. I gathered my spiral and remembered what Paul told me. I had to say it in a pathetically male way. I walked to Oedipa

As I approached her, my perception of her originally changed, the details crashing onto me. Oedipa struck me as a person out of time, she had the notable features of any forty-year-old but had the vibrant features, personality, and expression of a twenty-year-old; red hair, glowing skin, and long tattoo sleeves on her arms. For some reason, I was expecting someone in their 50s with a floral look and lipstick. But no, Oedipa is devoid of a concept of age, aged 40+ but looking like she was still in her 220s

The midlife crisis did not come for Oedipa, Oedipa took the midlife crisis by its collar and French kissed it.

"Yes?" Said Oedipa without batting an eye from her bible.
"I-uh"