Free Color Me Bad: A Novella by Sharon Sala

CHAPTER 1

    Ruby Dye showed up in Blessings, Georgia, twelve years earlier with nothing to her name but her divorce papers and a cosmetology license. She had just enough money from her divorce settlement to set up a beauty shop she called The Curl Up and Dye, with very little left over. It was a simple plan. If she didn’t cut enough hair, she wouldn’t eat. But as it turned out, she had arrived in Blessings to provide a service that had been missing. Before the first week was out, she was booked solid. Considering it was the first good thing that had happened to her in a long time, she was grateful.
    She made it a practice to change her hair color and style on a biyearly basis as a means of advertising her own skill, and last night had been the night for another change. She’d gone home with shoulder-length brown hair and auburn highlights. This morning her hair was chin length and red. Audacious Red was the color on the box, and she considered it a good measure of her attitude. She came in the back door, unloaded the box of doughnuts fresh from the bakery, and started coffee.
    Vesta and Vera Conklin, her fortysomething identical twin stylists would be here soon, and neither one of them was fit for conversation until they’d had something sweet and a cup of coffee in their bellies. Ruby loved the both of them, but they were the most opinionated women she’d ever met, and their confrontational attitude was probably why neither one of them was married.
    At thirty-two, Mabel Jean Doolittle was the youngest employee. She did manicures and pedicures at The Curl Up and Dye and, when they were extra busy, helped out on shampoo duty, as well.
    She was a feisty little blond with a scar on her forehead from going headfirst into the windshield of her boyfriend’s car when she was only sixteen. It was a daily reminder to never make stupid-ass choices in men again.
    Ruby was proud of what she’d accomplished. The one thing she hadn’t expected was for the shop to become the local confessional, which it had. Eventually, every secret in town came out at The Curl Up and Dye.
    She was running the dust mop over the black and white tiles when the back door opened. Vesta and Vera entered, both wearing pink smocks and the same pissy scowl on their faces.
    “Morning, girls. Coffee is hot. Doughnuts are fresh. Help yourselves,” Ruby said.
    “Morning, Sister,” they echoed, then stopped. “Nice hair color,” they added, and headed for the break room.
    Ruby smiled as she headed for the register to count out the money for the till. Nearly everyone in town called her “Sister,” and she liked it. It made her feel like she was part of a great big family. Once the money was in the drawer, she moved to the front door. She was just about to turn the Closed sign to Open when she saw Alma Button pull up in front of the shop.
    The fact that it was August 15 and Alma was driving the family van made Ruby wince. It must be time for back-to-school haircuts for Alma’s six boys. When she saw the side door open and boys spilling out like puppies turned loose in a barn full of chickens, she took a deep breath and yelled out, “Girls, grab your scissors! Here comes Alma and her boys.”
    The twins stepped out of the break room. On a scale of one to ten, their tolerance for children was a three, and judging from their expressions, that had just plummeted to a one.
    Vera was muttering beneath her breath as she brushed powdered-sugar crumbs off her smock.
    Vesta frantically stirred a second packet of sugar into her coffee.
    Ruby turned the sign to Open and unlocked the door.
    “Morning, Alma. Y’all are here early.”
    She smiled at the boys trailing in behind their mother.
    From the looks on their faces, they were no happier to be here than Ruby and her girls were to see them coming.
    “Morning, Ruby,” Alma echoed, and gave the boys a warning look. “You know Joe down at the barber shop is still in the hospital from his hip replacement, and I