Chapter 10
“Hey boss lady, I found the best sistah for the job!”
Tanai sat in the massage chair with her feet submerged in the scolding hot water and smiled at the news.
Tanai’s friend named Dimples looked over at her and said, “What are you smiling about girl?”
Their girl Elsa said, “Maria, you see what I’m saying about Dimples? She always asking dumb questions. Here we are sitting in a nail shop. Tanai is the richest 20-year-old in the world. Her father is the richest man in the world, her mother is the finest woman ever, and her brother is the smoothest man alive.
She about to pay for everyone’s service in here like always. She don’t have a care in the world.” Elsa looked over at Dimples and said, “The answer is everything dammit, she smiling at every damn thing!”
The four of them laughed out loud at Elsa’s delivery. She had the best comedic timing.
Dimples never paid Elsa any mind, so she stared at Tanai and raised an eyebrow as to say answer my question.
Tanai smiled at her friend and held up a finger and said, “I can’t wait to meet her Mr. Scott.”
Scott got tired of telling her that she didn’t have to call him Mr. so he just said, “I can’t wait for you to meet her either boss lady. I hear that her daughter is even better than her, but she is only 13.”
Tanai raised her eyebrows and said, “Yes, I’d like to meet her as well. Set that up please.”
“Yes ma’am. Count it done.”
Tanai said, “Thank you Mr. Scott, talk to you soon.”
Tanai then looked at Dimples and said, “We just found a new accountant.”
Dimples smiled and said, “Let’s go black girl magic!”
All the girls smiled as they knew at that point that their friend had hired another black woman to a position of power.
A white customer that was getting her feet done and sat diagonally away from the girls said, “Excuse me, can I ask you a real question without us getting upset with each other?” She looked right at Tanai.
Tanai smiled at the woman and said, “I can guarantee you that I will not get upset no matter what you say.”
The older white woman smirked and said, “I hope that is true, but I couldn’t help but overhear your conversation because ya’ll were so loud.”
Tanai raised her hand and said, “Let me apologize about how loud we were.” Tanai lowered her hand and waited for the lady to continue.
The nail techs all said, “Oh hell nah T! You don’t have to apologize to that b-“
“It’s okay ya’ll,” Tanai interjected. She looked at the woman and said, “Ma’am you may ask your question.”
The woman looked around with her hand on her chest as she said, “Oh my.” She took a deep breath and nodded her head and said, “Don’t you think it’s kinda racist for you to only hire black women.”
Tanai smiled as everyone looked at her. Tanai smiled and said, “Racism is about power, and racial hierarchy, therefore black people cannot be racist.”
“Okay, but you and your family are the most powerful people in the world and ya’ll are black.”
“Thank you for acknowledging that, but my family is just the exception to the rule. In addition to that if you must know. I hire only the best people for certain positions, a lot of them just happen to be black.”
“Thank you. That answers my question completely. You and your family seem to be really stand up people.”
Tanai didn’t respond to the lady verbally she just flashed a weak smile and then turned to her girls and said, “What we eating after this.”
The owner of the shop looked over at Tanai to ask as the ‘question lady’ was preparing to pay for her services if she wanted to pay for her as well. Tanai frowned her face up and shook her head yes adamantly.
The lady looked over at Tanai and placed her hand over her heart and mouthed the words, “Thank you.”
Tanai smiled and waved at the woman. The shop went crazy when the lady walked out of the door. Tanai smiled and shook her head.
Everyone was so proud of how Tanai handled the lady. Tanai was unphased. She said, “That’s just how some people are.”
~~
Danisha looked at her phone as she rode the bus home. She ignored the phone call from the Scott guy and then had a conversation with herself. I gotta stop doing that, he may be one of the people my momma is referring to me. I’ll call him back later. . .