Altogether unusual

The Phoenix

'My yesterdays walk with me. They keep step, they are gray faces that peer over my shoulder.'

William Golding

"Hello, Clarisse!" Eve is in front of me, a small smile on her beautiful face. Her hair is longer, with honey colours in it. She looks thinner, and her clothes are not so polished anymore, but that doesn't change her appearance, somehow. Eve wears a simple yellow sundress with ankle boots and a leather jacket. The yellow clashes well with her skin. She's still the most beautiful woman I have ever seen. This, of course, is not the point in this situation. I still want to kick her ass. As I contemplate how to escape this predicament, I notice the young woman holding Eve's hand. She looks a little like me, dark hair, blue eyes, fair complexion, but her hair is cut very short and she is much taller than I am. Her long legs are clad in blue jeans and it is obvious she doesn't wear a bra under a simple black tank-top. Nice tits, what can I say?

"How can I be of service today, ladies?" I finally say, decided to act like I do not know Eve. I really never did, if you come to think of it.

"I am the 10 o'clock appointment, Clarisse. We talked online about my tattoo." I see that she is waiting for me to make a move, but I don't want to acknowledge her at all.

"Yes, of course. I'll prepare the chair in a few minutes. You can go have a soda meanwhile, but I'd rather you stay here to see everything is clean and sanitized properly. Come through here!" I motion for them to follow me in the back, where I have my work place setup. I offer them two chairs and I start working on putting the transparent foil on the tattoo chair Eve will seat on. "The tattoo will take three hours tops, as I previously said. I'll be using inks from Tatt Expert. The needles are here ready to be open for you. If you notice anything out of order, please stop me and ask. We want to make you as comfortable as possible." I recite my presentation calmly, while chanting soothing thoughts in my head. I wish I could run away, but this is a job and I cannot stop now, after making an appointment. The saloon would not regard it with kind eyes, and I wouldn't either. It's just a job. "Is this your first tattoo? Are you aware of the amount of pain you will experience?" I know she doesn't have any tattoos.

"No, it's not. I have another one under one of my boobs." She replies, pulling me out of my concentration. I look at her amazed. "Yeah, a lot of things have happened after you left London. I went rogue." She laughs her oh, so dear infectious laugh and the corners of my mouth almost give up on me. But I turn my head towards the tattoo machine hiding my face.

"In this case, taking into consideration that the rib area is a very sensitive one, this tattoo should not hurt so much. There are ways we can make you comfortable, if you want. There is a numbing cream we use for the customers with pain sensitivity."

"No pain, no gain! Isn't this what they say?" Eve quips.

"Every customer is different. People want tattoos and some of them cannot take the pain. The cream helps." I try to ignore her attempts to be friendly as much as I can. The thing is, ever since I've known her, I never had to hate her. We were friends, and the habit tries to kick in. Oh, what a glorious morning! "Ok, I'm done here. You can lift your dress to give me access to your hip, and lie down. I'll first put in the stencil and let it dry for 20 minutes."

Eve complied and I worked as fast as I could. I needed to go and take a deep breath.

"Well, then, you can wait in here, or go and have a soda or eat something, if you haven't yet. I can also send someone with coffee or tea."