Dreaming of Dallas...

 

The extensions did take the rest of the day and into the evening. While Penny did most of the work, at times, Sally worked on one side while Penny worked on the other. Each skein of hair had to be glued to a matching lock of real hair, twenty-five strands at a time. Penny and Sally worked fast, more than a twenty locks an hour for ten hours, trading off for breaks with two other shop employees.  

The job involved separating out a lock of Wren's own hair and preparing it for adding the extension, then aligning the extension and fastening it in place. There were different ways of doing this but Penny chose glue as being the most permanent and most like having your own hair.  

They worked upward from the nape of Wren's neck, five locks at a time, then widening it to six, seven and eight, then starting another row on each side above Wren's ears. It was careful, painstaking work and required artistry and technical knowhow of a high degree. The three sets of rows came together like a pyramid until locks could be set across the crown of Wren's head in a pattern that followed the growth of Wren's natural hair.

"Good thing you had long enough hair for this to work," said Penny at one time. "You need at least four to five inches of natural growth to attach the extensions."

"I like long hair," said Wren. "This is going to be something different though, I can feel it all the way down my back." Although Wren tried to keep still, every movement seemed to make the new locks of hair rustle and tickle. "I thought it would take me ages to grow it out that long."

Penny laughed her deep laugh. "You'll have to brush it out of the way when you sit down in some chairs. And it will keep growing with the locks of your own hair that it's attached to. I may have to do maintenance on it every month or two but it can last a year if you take care of it."

"Iss gorgeous," said Sally in her soft Island Spanish accent. "You make all the other girlss yealous."

Wren laughed softly and blushed.

"She's not kidding," said Penny. "You'll see. And no one is going to know for sure that it isn't your own hair unless you tell them."

"How do you remove it when it comes time?" Wren asked, curious.

"There's a solvent that turns the glue into powder," said Penny. "Then we just comb it out, shampoo and you're ready to do it again."

"What about when my mousy roots start showing?" asked Wren.

"No problem," said Penny. "We deal with that all the time, we just recolor only the roots."

Wren wasn't sure how that would work but trusted Penny to know what she was doing.

Another girl, Estelle, gave Wren a manicure and a pedicure, staying out of the way of people doing the extensions. Wren picked the color, a softened red with tiny metallic magenta flecks that nearly matched the shade of the lipstick that Deanna had picked earlier.

"You want nail extensions, too?" asked Estelle when she started on the manicure. "Make them all the same length, maybe a quarter inch?"

"Go for a half-inch," said Phil.

Wren had forgotten that he was still there, watching everything with the camera crew and the director. Glancing in his direction, Wren nodded. "A half-inch."

"That's really a lot," said Estelle. "More than you might think."

"I'll try it," said Wren. "If they're too long, I can come back and get them trimmed down."

"It will make your hands look so nice and elegant," Estelle cooed. "You have good hands, slim but strong. And smooth, I'll give you a lotion that will help keep them soft."

"Thank you," said Wren, smiling.

"You want them cut square across? It's stronger that way but it looks prettier if they are rounded."

"Prettier," said Wren.

"Wearing long nails is different," said Estelle. "Have you had your nails this long before?"

"No," said Wren. "It'll be a real experience, like the hair."

Estelle nodded. "You have a little trouble picking things up and remembering to use the side of your finger instead of the tip for some things. You don't type a lot do you?"

"No."

Estelle smiled. "You shouldn't have too much trouble then. Maybe since we'll have time and the studio is paying for this, I can paint flowers on your nails?"

"Really?" said Wren. "I think I'd like that."

"A small flower on each nail, and three with rhinestones for the thumb. And one flower on each big toe," said Estelle. "It's very pretty. Green and white and gold on the red, you'll see."

Phil came over to talk with Wren but stayed well back of the cosmeticians. "You up for coming in extra early tomorrow?" he asked.

"Sure," said Wren. "How early?"

"Be here at seven, which means you'll have to get up at five, probably."

Wren laughed. "It's obvious you've never worked in a small family business. That's normal hours at Woody's, most days."

"Would you want to come at six?" Phil asked.

"If that's what it takes."

Phil nodded. "It's going to be another long day for you, let me ask around, see if the techs want to get here that early." He threw a mock salute toward Penny and wandered off to talk to the director.

Penny scowled. "He's okay but he can be an asshole sometimes," she said.

Wren laughed. "He's management, production, I guess if he couldn't summon his inner prick he wouldn't make it very far."

Penny chuckled. "You're right. Sometimes you have to be the bad guy when you're the boss."

Estelle grinned and Sally snorted.

"They're laughing 'cause I'm a big softie," said Penny. And everyone giggled at that.

# # #

Wren ended up dozing in the chair through part of the long afternoon but heard Sally talking to someone and woke up.

"You chould wake her wit' a kiss," Sally was saying.

Wren recognized Phil's chuckle. "I'm afraid she might hit me if I woke her up like that."

"Won't know until you try it," said Wren, sitting up and looking directly at Phil's grey eyes.

Phil looked as if he were considering it then smiled and laughed. "Get your bath tonight, cause the guys in technical costuming are going to be smearing you with mud tomorrow, starting at six."

"I can't wait," said Wren.

"Why they going to do that?"   asked Sally.

"It's for a special costume. Wren will come in here in it and you won't even know her," said Phil, his eyes twinkling.

"They better not get their mud in this hair, I'll take some hide off those boys," said Penny.

"Look," said Wren, holding hands out palms down with fingers spread so Phil could see Estelle's work on the nails.

"Nice," said Phil. "I'm not sure why women do that though. I don't think men look at nails that much."

"Poo," said Penny. "Some things we do for the beauty of them and some we do for ourselves, men aren't the center of our worlds all the time, you know."

Phil grinned and winked at Wren. "Yes, ma'am," he said to Penny.

"Oh, get out of here. Come back in two hours, we'll be done," she said.

"Can I take you out to dinner?" Phil asked Wren. "I'm on expense account still, so we can go somewhere nice."

Wren laughed. "You talked me into it. Is there good seafood around here?"

Phil looked thoughtful, "It'll be too late for the best place in Burbank or the best place in Glendale, they're both lunch places. But The Hungry Cat will be open in Hollywood and it's not too far."

"Yumeow!" said Wren.

Phil laughed.

"I like the flattop look you've got going right now," he said. Long wavy platinum hair flowed from the back and sides but the top of Wren's head was still the original hairdo, though pinched off and pulled up into locks that had been laid forward to make it easier to work from the back.

Penny picked up a brush from a counter and threw it at him. "We're not done! Get outta here!"

Phil dodged three times, as if Penny had hurled a barage.

Wren and the camera guy laughed and everyone else smirked.

Phil bowed and left.

"He rubs me the wrong way," said Penny. "He's smarmy. And sarcastic. And he smells better than men are supposed to smell."

Wren swallowed a giggle at that complaint. Phil did smell good.

"He likes to flirt wit'choo," said Sally.

"I kinda noticed," Wren admitted.

"You need a reech boyfren' like him," said Sally. "You can be expensive girlfren'. It's fon," said Sally.

At this, Penny laughed.

"I'm not sure I want any boyfriend," said Wren.

"Oh, chess you do," said Sally nodding.

Wren made a face, half-frown, half smile. "Why do you say that?"

"You pick the pretty fingers," said Sally. "Womenss with the pretty fingers are looking for men."

"Unless they are looking for women," said Penny.

Sally frowned and looked at Wren doubtfully.  

Wren looked back and smiled, wide and bright.

# # #

In the mirror, the dream of every Dallas cheerleader became real, blond curls piled high and hanging down to the waist. The accessory seemed to do more to transform what Wren thought of as an ordinary face into something different, something beautiful. Even more than the make-up, which could be washed off, the hair made Andy Wren becoming Wren Andrews real, maybe too real for TV.

Penny looked at Wren and nodded. "You know, the hair is almost too much?"

"What do you mean?" asked Wren.

"People are going to look at your hair and not you. You'll need more dramatic make-up to draw attention to your face."

"Hadn't thought of that."

"Deanna will, don't worry," said Penny with one of her deep chuckles. "But there's something I can do, too. I'm going to dye a lock of your hair on each side a different color, that will bring the focus down from all the gorgeous curls to make people see the real you."

"The real me? I dunno…" said Wren, smiling.

"Pink," said Sally. "Two locks on one side and one on the other. Like it just happen by assident."

Wren blinked.

"I think Sally's right. You like pink?" asked Penny.

"Iss so feminine," said Sally.

Wren nodded. "Pink," she said.