And then came the moment that I began to rise up from my deadened awareness. It was the smell, I think. A sweet vanilla fragrance, reminding me of the sugar cookies that I’d once baked with my grandmother. My nose wiggled slightly, sending a jerk of pain. That shot my eyes open. I attempted to touch my nose, wondering why it vaguely hurt, but my hands were bound, not tied down exactly, but swathed in gloves so thick they might as well have been boxing gloves.
“Ah, you are awake,” Simone said, with that sexy voice of hers that made her sound like a Shakespearean-trained actress.
I was sitting upright in the same chair where I’d perched when I first arrived and had drunk the odd-tasting tea Simone poured into my pink, gold and very delicate teacup.
“Um, sorry. I guess I fell asleep. I had the strangest dreams.” Geeze, did I have to spill out everything I was fuzzily thinking? I sat up straighter, unkinking my back, which amazingly didn’t feel as if I’d been sleeping bent over like a youthful edition of the Hunchback of Notre Dame.
“Here, drink this,” Simone said in a soft voice that still held the quality of a command.
As if I were part robot, I took the glass from her hand and sipped it, then, at her urging (or rather her command,) I finished it off. That shot an awareness through me that it was time to visit the lady’s room.
I made my way to the dark pink door a few steps away. It opened for me as if awaiting my presence. The light went on, and I sat where one is supposed to sit. When I was ready to wash my hands, I noticed that the room had no mirror. That was especially strange in a salon where women came to be beautified.
Simone was waiting for me when I exited. She led me over to a different chair and told me to sit.
“What time is it?” I asked, having once again left my watch on the counter at home, still powering up. It was too bad that I wasn’t wearing it that day. It couldn’t tell me the number of steps I’d walked that day, which was a shame because I’d worked a lot further than usual. I should have gotten the happy face award my watch sometimes issued.