Chapter 2: A Decision is Made
Zach stood motionless in the hallway. “What is this about?” he asked. His mom calmly looked at him, “Would you do this for your old mom, hm?” He shot back at her, “Mom, you turn 40 next year. That’s not old.” Taken slightly aback but also slightly flattered she looked at him and said, “Zach, you’re supposed to respect your mother hm? After all, I carried you for nine months and have provided everything for you for your whole life. A simple thank you by doing this is not much to ask for.” Zach accepted what she said. He walked over to his mom and knelt down.
“That’s a good boy, yes you are” she said in a condescending tone. “I saw you this afternoon and I want to see what you can do. Don’t fool me, I know you look at women’s feet all the time. Now you learn the effort that goes into it.” Zach was nervous. He was also getting slightly aroused which grossed him out because it was his mother. But he just accepted what he was going though. How much worse could the day get? “Remember Zach, its important to make sure the feet are smooth. Always check for any callouses,” she said as her son held and inspected her feet. “Lesson one. Giving a pedicure requires three important factors: smoothness, massage, and polish. Repeat that back to me.” Zach looked up at his mom and slowly but surely let out of his mouth: “Smoothness, massage, and polish.” His mom’s head nodded with each word. “Thats right!” she exclaimed. “Spend 25 minutes on section one. Make the feet smooth. For this, remember the 3 C’s: callouses, cuticles, and cracked skin.” “Callouses, cuticles, and cracked skin. Callouses, cuticles, and cracked skin,” Zach whispered to himself.
His mom went on, “Now I went ahead and took off my polish already but you’ll always have to use a polish remover to get any old paint off, okay?” Zach could only nod. His mom reached across the table by her side and handed her son a pair of nail clippers. “Okay son, I need you to clip my nails. Do it across in a gentle but straight way.” At this point, the boy was catching on. Zach was starting to pick up a little. By the time he was finished, his mom handed him a file to file nails and provided instructions on how to do that. As he went back and forth and rounded his mother’s toenails, Zach’s head was empty. He obediently followed as he tried his hardest to not think about what was happening.
As the night went on, his mom taught Zach more. She taught him about exfoliating scrub, and he massaged his mothers feet with the expensive but quality cream. He would feel embarrassed as his mom would tell him to put more pressure on this toe or that sole or that heel. He used a towel on the ground to dry his mom’s left foot. She told him this lotion was a strawberry flavor and to spend 20 minutes on each client doing this. She told Zach this part is very important and it’s often what a client remembers most. He could only nod his head in understanding, unable to get words out of his mouth.
After drying his mom’s feet after massaging both feet thoroughly and putting toe dividers on her feet, he was instructed to put a base clear coat on her nails. This made Zach nervous. He had never painted nails before. Wouldn’t he get polish everywhere? His mother gave him a calm and reassuring support saying that she believed in him and that he should take it slow. It seemed like an eternity had passed. But after applying two coats of light purple and taking a little tool to clear off the side polish, he was told to do long, gentle strokes and afterwards put a clear polish on top for protection.
With his mom’s feet finally polished and sitting on top of the spa with the water still bubbling, she leaned over down towards him and said “Good boy!” enthusiastically. This made Zach both embarrassed and proud. “Now,” she said, “why don’t you blow on my nails for them to dry. I don’t think I need to tell you how, you’ve got some practice with that already, don’t you?” Zach’s head hung in disgrace. He got close to his mom’s feet and started blowing lightly. Just as he had done a few hours earlier with Ms. Peterson. As he was blowing on the polish he just applied, his mom talked to him:
“Zach, I’m glad you were able to do this. As I know you know, Ms. Peterson and I had a talk. She really cares about you. I hope you know that. And well, we need to be realistic now that you’re about to finish high school. Since you’ve never expressed interest in doing much, I think I have an idea. I’m a board certified cosmetology instructor. Since you’re not licensed, you can’t legally work as a nail tech in the salon. But you are a student and the state allows for a hands on training program where under supervision, you can work just as you would if you were licensed. We’d have someone check up on you but you’d mostly be independent. This would be a great opportu-“
“Mom!” Zach shouted as he looked up at his mother laying out his future, “I’m not going to do this. I won’t allow you t-“
“DID I SAY TO STOP BLOWING?!” his mom scolded down at him. The two looked at each other in silence. A standoff was in the midst. Slowly and calmly but sternly his mother glared into her son’s eyes and instructed him, “Eyes. Down. Mouth. Open. Blow. Polish.” After a solid ten seconds of continued staring, submissiveness overcame Zach’s body and his head titled back down to his mother’s feet and began to blow on the purple polish again.
His mother waited a period of time. “As I was saying,” she continued:
“This will be a great opportunity for you. Because someone has to take over the family business from me one day. I want that to be you. So guess what? You don’t have to go to college or make a ton of money and after a few years you can be a successful businessman. You just need to learn the ropes. Now since you’re not getting certified immediately, I’m going to need you to fill the gaps. We already have staff for the niche hair services we do. We’re good on waxing. And we have some fantastic artists among our nail techs for manicures. What I really need is another person to help with pedicures. After tonight, I know you’ll do a good job. So here’s the deal, you’re going to become a pedicurist for me. No, it’s not the most glamorous job but you will be the only boy on staff so I’m sure women will snatch you up and you’ll make great tips. You’ll be quite the rage. And after a few years you can take over the salon. Do we have a deal?”
Zach stopped blowing and looked up at his mom. His mind was racing with possibilities. He didn’t know. He tried to muster an excuse, “I mean I would but it doesn’t pay too well” he said. His mom replied, “And what field are you going to go into that will pay better, hm Mr. Smart Pants?” He sat in silence. He didn’t know. She continued, “What fancy thing do you want fancy money for?” Zach thought of an excuse but one more true and heartfelt: “Well I wanted to save up and buy a Nintendo Switch”. His mother saw his confidence. She thought long and hard. “Okay,” she said, “How about tomorrow I buy you an Nintendo Switch and say any five games you want. And starting Saturday, my plan begins.” Zach thought long and hard. What other options did he have? And he could get what he really wanted for free on top of getting paid for work? He was convinced.
With one simple word, he looked up at his mom, client, and boss and said “Deal”. His mother took her right foot and grazed it across her son’s cheek. She looked down at her new favorite pedicurist and said “I’m so happy you said that son. You were born for this.”