Free Eye for an Eye by Bev Robitai Page B

slouch in the shearing shed
either.
    Once the cut
was finished, she looked around furtively then took out some
permanent dyes from her bag. Under the guise of giving Colwyn a
scalp massage, she painted a large erect penis on the back of his
head in indelible purple ink. It rose majestically up to his crown,
counter-pointed by two bright green testicles at the base just
above his shirt collar. When her artwork was complete, she got out
her razor and shaved his neck, checking to see how relaxed he was.
As he was paying no attention, she shaved lightly around the
coloured area as well so that it stood out in proud relief to
complete the effect.
    ‘Just wait
there, Mr. Symons,’ she murmured soothingly. ‘I’ll get the mirror
so you can check the back.’
    She quietly
gathered her things and moved towards the bathroom door, edged it
gently closed behind her, then sprinted like a mad-woman out of the
apartment and towards the elevator. She thumbed the button as a
diversion, then dived through the stairwell door and clattered down
two flights where she paused to remove the white coat and stuff it
into her bag. By the time she reached the lobby her knees were
trembling from the strain, but she forced herself to walk casually
towards the front door. As she reached the security desk she
managed to squeak out ‘Bye bye, now,’ in her best bimbo voice, and
was rewarded with a knowing leer from both the doorman and a
swarthy egg-shaped man who was hanging around the front desk.
    The outer door
opened with a blast of warm air and she was down the steps and onto
the sidewalk, intent on putting as much distance between herself
and Colwyn Symons as possible.
    Moments later
the doorman appeared at the top of the steps, looking up and down
the street. Seeing no sign of a woman in a white coat, he shook his
head and disappeared back inside.
    Back in her
hotel room, Robyn rinsed out the hair dye, and scrubbed the make-up
off her face, shuddering as the lurid blue eye shadow mingled with
streaks of mascara in the cracked basin.
    ‘God, how do
people wear this muck?’
    A wicked grin
lit her squeaky clean face in the mirror.
    ‘Hey, that was
FUN! If only I could see his face when he saw that piece of
artwork! Now he’s a dick-head for all the world to see!’ She hooted
joyfully, picturing the embarrassment that awaited him when he had
to go to a real hair salon to repair the damage. ‘That’ll stop his
business meetings in their tracks for a while!’
    Once her
clean-up was complete, she became aware that she was suddenly
ravenously hungry again, and that lunch was long overdue. She
checked her money, decided reluctantly that it would have to be
hamburgers once more, and set off for the nearest burger bar.
    A few steps
from the hotel’s front door a pleasant-looking young man was
puzzling over a map of the city. Seeing Robyn he smiled shyly,
flicking soft brown hair back from his intelligent grey eyes.
    ‘Hi there, you
wouldn’t happen to know how to get to the Science Centre, would
you? I seem to have gotten myself kinda lost.’
    ‘I’d love to
help you, mate,’ she said regretfully, ‘but I’m a stranger here
myself I’m afraid. I wouldn’t know the Science Centre from a bar of
soap.’
    Seeing his
forlorn expression, she took pity on him. ‘Doesn’t your map tell
you? Here, let’s have a look.’
    They bent over
the map together, tracing the bus route that would get him from
Yonge Street to his destination part-way across town.
    ‘There you go,’
she said cheerfully, ‘it looks like it’s a piece of cake. Just get
on the bus up the road here, transfer to that route when you get to
that intersection, and Bob’s your uncle.’
    He looked
confused.
    ‘You’re there.
Everything hunky dory. No problem!’
    His face
cleared.
    ‘Ah, right.
Thanks, that was really helpful. I’ve always been hopeless with
maps.’ He paused, as if a thought had just occurred to him. ‘Look,
if you’re in town on vacation too, why