Sauna

Lauren decided that she could try skiing tomorrow; the sauna sounded lovely, though. Despite being covered in her red designer coat and snow pants, she was getting kind of chilly. So, grabbing her purse, Lauren placed her key into her pocket and left the room.

Taking the elevator down to the lobby, Lauren exited the elevator and looked around for a map. After finding one, Lauren discovered that the saunas were actually located in a smaller building in the back. Shrugging, Lauren went through the back door and began her trek to the other building, her boots crunching through the snow.

After a few minutes, Lauren found herself at the building and opened the door. A chime alerted the worker that they had a guest.

“Welcome to Crisp Mountain Ski Resort Salon and Saunas!” a familiar voice called out from behind a curtain, “How may we help –“ the owner of the voice came out from behind the curtain; it was Madison.

“You?!” Madison cried out in shock.

“Oh, great.” Lauren said sarcastically. “If you’re in charge, I guess I should expect low quality here too?”

That depends; will you be tipping in nickels again? Madison thought angrily, trying to keep a pleasant smile on her face. “Actually,” she corrected, “I’m just covering for Jessica while she’s on her lunch break. Is there anything that I could help you with today?”

“You? No.” Lauren said in a flat yet rude tone. “However, I would like to use the sauna if there are any openings.”

Madison went to the computer and began searching.

“Single room or would you like to share?” Madison asked, “We have one spot available in the shared room; but if you want a single, you’re going to have to wait about ten, maybe fifteen minutes.”

“Fifteen minutes?!” Lauren snapped. “I want the single room, but I am NOT waiting fifteen minutes.”

Madison felt her eye begin to twitch again, but she took a breather to calm down.

“Please do not yell at me, Mam.” Madison said calmly, “I am just doing my job.”

“Well, you’re terrible at it; both of them!” Lauren growled. “Do you even know who I am?!”

Yeah. You’re the annoying pest who made me wish I stuck with my old job at Johnny Jackrabbit’s Pizza Rodeo. Madison thought, grumpily. “I’m sorry, Mam; but if you want to have a room to yourself, then you have to wait for it to be empty. If you want, I have the shared room; there’s already three people in there but –“

“Are you deaf?!” Lauren yelled. She then began talking slowly, “I. Want. The. Single. Room.”

How sad is it that this job is now a step DOWN from singing happy birthday to a group of screaming children in a stuffy, sweat inducing, pink rabbit costume? Madison asked herself. “Mam, please calm down. If you don’t, I’m afraid I just may have to call security to escort you out.” And I’ll laugh about it, too.

“Ugh, fine.” Lauren groaned, “Just so we’re clear, though, you’re not getting a tip!”

Oh no. However will I earn that five cents now? Madison thought, sarcastically. “Please have a seat. The red light above the door will tell you when the room is available.”

Lauren rolled her eyes, but nonetheless went to take her seat. After she did, a mother and her five year old son came into the building. The boy was licking a rather large lollipop. Lauren rolled her eyes again and picked up a magazine to read.

“Jimmy, go sit down while Mommy goes and talks to the nice receptionist, okay?” the mother asked as she walked up to Madison.

“Okay, Mom.” Jimmy said walking towards the waiting room. Much to Lauren’s annoyance, Jimmy chose to sit in the seat behind her.

After a few minutes, the mother came back and sat next to her son behind Lauren. Lauren looked up and saw that Madison was no longer there, having gone behind the curtain again. She looked up at the light above the door. It was red, but it wasn’t ready yet.

“Okay, Jimmy.” The mother said to her son, “Remember that after I get my hair done, we’re going to pick up your father from his ski class. Then it’s off to Grandma’s.”

“Yay!” Jimmy shouted, causing Lauren to wince at the noise so close to her ear, “Grandma!”

THWACK! Lauren felt something hard hit the back of her head.

“OW!” Lauren yelled, turning to face Jimmy. “Watch it!”

“Sorry.” Jimmy apologized.

Lauren rolled her eyes and went back to reading her magazine. Suddenly, she felt several hard tugs on her hair. Lauren then got up and glared at the two.

“Lady, you need to keep your little monster under control!” Lauren snapped. The woman was about to respond, when Jimmy started crying.

“You mean lady!” Jimmy cried. “You stole my lollipop!”

“What are you whining about?” Lauren asked flatly. “I didn’t take your lollipop!”

“Yes you did!” Jimmy said, eyes filled with tears. “You used your hair to steal it!”

“And how did I use my – “ Lauren began, absentmindedly reaching behind her head. She came into contact with something wet, round and sticky attached to a wooden stick. Lauren gave the stick a pull, and her hair went with it. “MY HAIR?! MY BEAUTIFUL HAIR! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE, YOU STUPID BRAT?!”

“Don’t talk to my son that way!” the mother yelled, holding Jimmy in her arms; comforting the crying boy.

“What is going on out – “ Madison began as she came back from behind the curtain. She stopped when she saw the sight in front of her: Lauren, a lollipop in her hair, was angrily glaring at the equally as angry mother and the crying little boy.

“You!” Lauren snapped, turning her attention to Madison. “This is your fault!”

“What? How is any of this – “

“You didn’t give me the single room when I asked! Now, look what happened!” Lauren screamed. “Fix this!”

“Okay, calm down.” Madison said, “Come to the salon in the back and we can try to fix this.”

“You’d better.” Lauren said ominously as she fallowed Madison into the back.

When they got there, Lauren got into a chair as Madison opened up a drawer. Lauren looked down and saw that Madison had pulled out a pair of scissors. Lauren’s eyes went wide.

“What do you think you’re going to do with those?” Lauren asked. “Don’t you dare cut my hair!”

“It’s too tangled in there.” Madison said. “If I don’t, you’re going to be walking around with a lollipop in your hair. And heat from the sauna will just make this worse!”

Truthfully, Madison didn’t really care about Lauren’s hair. She just didn’t want to get fired.

Lauren really didn’t want to lose her only adult feature, but she realized she had ****. Sighing, Lauren nodded; giving Madison the okay.

Madison gulped as she took the scissors in hand and began to cut. Snip! Snip! Snip! Lauren saw Madison remove the lollipop…along with a large chunk of her hair. Lauren used the mirror to see the damage and almost fainted. Before, her hair came to her shoulder blades. Now, it just came to her neck.

Her most, if not only, adult feature…was gone.

Lauren got up from the chair and walked out the doorway to the waiting room. There the woman was still comforting Jimmy while two new visitors were waiting; their faces behind the magazines they were reading.

“I’m sorry, but I’m going to have to cancel my appointment.” The mother said, carrying Jimmy out of the waiting room. “I have to pick up my husband then head over to my mother-in-law’s; seeing her may be enough to calm him down.”

“Yeah, you better leave!” Lauren yelled, “And take that whiney, stupid, snot-nosed punk with you!”

The mother sent a **** glare at Lauren as she left the building. Madison looked at Lauren, shocked beyond all reason. Something in her snapped as she became red in the face; her blood getting so hot she could boil an entire aquarium full of lobsters. It was one thing if Lauren did this kind of stuff to her; but to a child?! And a five year old, no less?! Oh, she was going to let Lauren have it!

She opened her mouth to say something, but before she could the red light above the door came on and another woman came out.

“Well, that sounds like it’s my turn now.” Lauren said. “Thanks for the help. I’ll let you know when I’m done.”

And with that, Lauren casually walked through the door into the sauna. Madison blinked blankly at the door for a few minutes, before taking her hat off and screaming inside of it. Just then, another woman – who’s nametag read “Jessica” walked through the entrance.

“Sorry I’m late, Maddie.” Jessica said. “Did anything happen while I was –“

“Sorry, Jessie.” Madison said as she put her jacket on and walked to the door, “I got to get back to the lobby.”

Madison stomped out the door into the cold. This concerned Jessie a bit. Madison was a new employee, yet she always did her job with a smile. She could calm down the angriest of guests and was great with kids, but this didn’t seem like the Madison she got to know. Madison never got angry, even when confronting their rudest of guests; so something had to have cheesed her off big time.

At this moment, however, Jessie noticed that there were two women in the waiting room; a red head and a brunette.

“Oh, I’m terribly sorry.” Jessica apologized, “Welcome to Crisp Mountain Ski Resort Salon and Saunas. How may we help you today?”

“We're here for the shared room.” The brunette said, “Under the names May and Charlotte.”

“Give me a minute, I’ll look up your reservation.” Jessica said, walking over to the service desk.

“You know, May,” the blonde, Charlotte, whispered as she turned to face May. “I had no idea that Lauren was going to be here.”

“Me either.” May whispered, “But since she is, why don’t we have some fun?”

“Knock her down a peg?” Charlotte asked.

“Honey, we’re going to knock over the whole table.” May said with an evil smile.

“Sometimes I am proud to call you my cousin.” Charlotte said, returning the smile.