Chapter 4. Carson’s Plan Becomes Public

Pam Lafave is having her hair cut at Erin’s salon. It’s a slow morning and neither Jolene nor Violet has a customer. They are all gossiping happily when Sarah Brown comes in for her appointment and says loud enough for everyone to hear, “Have you seen Mary Jane Bloom’s article in the Weekly Journal? Like Jolene said, her husband Carson bought the Wellborne beachfront property and is planning on building a bunch of vacationer’s cottages.”

“What?” Violet Green screams, “He can’t do that. That’s the last undeveloped beach in the county. We don’t have any public beach on the lake and everyone uses the Wellborne beach. We can’t let him develop that precious land. We’ve got to stop him. Jolene, you told me he was trying to buy it. I didn’t think Wellborne would ever sell it. Did you know Carson succeeded and not tell us?”

Jolene answers icily, “I don’t discuss my husband’s private business publicly.”

“Well, it is public now,” screams Violet.

Erin interjects, “Calm down, Violet. Pam and Sarah come in to get their hair done and have a little peace and quiet. They don’t want to hear you screaming.”

“I’ll stop screaming, but I’m not going to let Crenshaw spoil that beautiful beach,” replies Violet.

“What do you intend to do, Violet?” inquires Jolene.

“I’m not going to tell you. You’ll tell him, but know this, I’ll figure out some way to stop him,” Violet says angrily as she stomps out of the salon.

“Sorry you had to hear that, Pam. You know Violet. She can’t resist any opportunity to dramatically protest something she doesn't agree with,” Erin says softly to Pam.

Pam replies, “I hope she doesn’t do something that gets her arrested. The last time she went on one of her activist rants she destroyed property and spent two weeks in jail before she agreed to pay for the things she destroyed. Jolene, does Carson know what Violet’s capable of?”

“I’ve told him but he doesn’t pay much attention to what I say.”

Erin changes the subject, “Let’s discuss something more pleasant. Now Violet’s not here we can talk about Art Society. Are you enjoying doing the figure studies in the old masters' styles?”

Pam replies, “Oh yes, it’s as much fun as I imagined. I have tried copying photos of the old masters’ figure studies from art books. It’s much more fun drawing from live models. Jolene, you did a perfect job of modeling for Titian’s ‘Venus of Urbino’. You look exactly like the model Titian used except for your blond hair, blue eyes and bigger boobs.”

“I found that pose easy except for holding my head tilted. It would be easier to do the pose for Manet’s ‘Olympia’, she has her head straight, but otherwise, it’s nearly an identical pose. They are both lying down comfortably with one hand over their crotch.”

“Have you selected a famous nude you’d like to model for, Sarah?” inquires Jolene.

“No, I’m not looking forward to my turn to model. I’m more modest than you, Jolene. It’s going to be uncomfortable for me, at least at first,” replies Sarah.

“Then choose Modigliani’s ‘Seated Nude’, you get to sit with a side view of your legs crossed, a towel across your lap and one arm covering your breasts,” suggests Pam.

“That’s a pose I can handle,” replies Sarah, “I’ll go home and look it up.”

“What about me, Pam? Do you have a suggestion for a not so thin figure?” asks Erin.

“Lots of choices, Erin. Degas’ ‘Girl Drying Herself’, but the bent over pose would be tiring. Better might be Rubens’ ‘Portrait of Helen in a Fur Cloak’, a much easier pose although painting the fur will be difficult. Rubens painted women the way we look, not what we looked like at sixteen,” Pam replies.

“How about the men?” asks Jolene.

“I’ll bet Harrison wants to do ‘David’ by Michelangelo despite it being a sculpture. He’s proud he still has a trim athletic body at his age,” replies Sarah. Sarah’s answer leads to everyone laughing.

“It’ll be harder to find something suitable for Rev Penny and Glen given their ages, front views of old men are not attractive,” offers Erin.

Pam suggests, “You’re right, Erin, how about Conchillos Y Falco’s ‘Nude Man, Seen from the Back’?” This brings more laughing as Pam continues, “Or one of the many paintings of St. Jerome, he’s usually portrayed as an ugly old man.”

When the laughing stops and there’s a pause in the conversation Sarah turns to Jolene and asks, “Jolene, do you think you could talk Jake Black into posing for us? That’s a body we’d all like to see.”

“What makes you think I should ask him, Sarah? Why don’t you ask him?” snaps Jolene.

“I’m not implying anything, Jolene, it’s just that you used to date him before he left for the Army,” replies Sarah.

“I’m married now and I don’t want to give Jake, or my husband, any wrong ideas,” Jolene says icily.

Pam says, “Okay, we’ve had our fun and my haircut is nearly done. Let’s get back to Violet and the development of the Wellborne property. I expect the other locals will welcome the development. They may turn on Violet if she makes too big a fuss. Is there anything we can do to calm her anger? I hate to see her so upset.”

Erin replies, “I doubt it, Pam. She will be on a mission, and no telling what she’ll do to try to stop Carson. I’m worried she’ll take it out on Jolene too.”

“Don’t worry about me, Erin. I can take care of myself, but if she gets nasty in the salon it may drive away some of my men customers. I like to have a calm atmosphere when I’m cutting men’s hair. They don’t come to me to hear women’s catfights,” says Jolene.

“Oh, I think we know why men come to you for haircuts and more,” quips Sarah, her eyes dropping from Jolene’s face to her half exposed breasts.

That brings some furtive smiles and glances between the others that Jolene ignores, but no one says anything for a few moments.

Pam then says, “I think the best thing we can do is agree with Violet that it’s a shame to lose the natural beach. Let’s try to convince her it’ll be good for the people in our village. It will be good for all of us if he builds enough cottages. Did the article in the Weekly Journal say how many cottages Carson is planning to build, Sarah?”

“I believe it said he’s planning to build 20. I remember thinking if Peter gets the plumbing work for 20 cottages he’ll make enough to pay off all his business loans and buy some new tools. He’ll be so happy” replies Sarah.

“I believe that many cottages will surely help every local business as well as Peter’s plumbing. It probably wouldn’t be worth it if he only builds three or four big places,” replies Erin.

Pam says, “If we can convince Violet 20 cottages will help our businesses, maybe it will keep her from doing something that’ll get her in deep trouble.”

“We’ll try, Pam. Your haircut’s done. How does it look to you?” asks Erin.

“Great as always, Erin. I’ll see you in three weeks for another cut,” replies Pam.