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The clock disrupted Alfred's train of thought screaming that it was now seven o'clock. Though it should have woken him up, it did nothing more but slightly startle him and make him realize how much his back hurt. After all, he had watched as the night sky melt into a soft blue before showing the merest hints of pink, accompanied with Peter's occasional mumbles from the bed behind him. Alfred hadn't intended to set the alarm at this time, it must have been the habit he had worked up. How long was it until he was supposed to be at Elizabeta's hair salon? Two hours? Which left Alfred one and a half hours to sleep, significantly less than he fancied but it had to suffice this time. With a groan, he closed the books and shoved them aside, and turned off the nightlight on his desk. After remembering to set the alarm again, this time to the right time, he went to bed and snuggled close enough to Peter that he wouldn't fall off the edge. It was slightly strenuous, but they certainly made it work. And after what felt like less than a second, the alarm went off again and Alfred, even more tired than before he went to sleep an hour and a half ago, got up and ready for a new day.
The young workaholic whispered quick "goodbye"-s to Dad and Peter, slightly caught by surprise upon seeing that Arthur was still sleeping, before heading out the door. Then quickly heading inside again to leave his coat because the morning sun was significantly warmer today. He walked as he soaked the sunrays up like a sponge, eventually standing before the entrance to the hair salon, which was also the residence of Elizabeta and Lily. A jolly bell rang as Alfred opened the door, and in the midst of trimming someone's hair Elizabeta grinned widely at him.
"Mornin'!" Alfred greeted and shoved the door closed behind him, the wallop echoing throughout the walls, "What's the mission today, sir?"
"You see the shelf over there." Elizabeta vaguely nodded toward the shelf stacked with hair products on the opposite side of the room from the entrance, "Move that next to the desk."
"That's gonna look ugly as hell," Alfred snickered to which Elizabeta clicked her tongue and winked.
"Of course that's not all. You don't think I'm gonna let this salon stay ugly, do you?"
"Well, it kinda is already," added the man whose hair was being trimmed. Alfred took a brief second to laugh along with him before interrupting himself as he caught the man's green eyes in the mirror. After a blunt, yet highly intense, examination of the man's face, Alfred broke into a wide and vivacious smile.
"Toni!" he exclaimed and approached the guy, being met with the solid handshake they had always had.
"Alfred, hombre, I was wonderin' how long it would take before you recognized me!" said Antonio with a smile just as lustrous as Alfred's.
"You look so- so- what's the word," Alfred started before desperately gesturing with his hands in the search for what he was intending to say, "Y'know, opposite of someone who just sits inside all day?"
"Energetic?" Elizabeta suggested.
"Nah, that's too vague," Alfred rejected.
"Handsome?" Antonio tried.
"Nah."
"Lively?"
"No- Or, well, yes, but that's not what I'm lo- Fresh!" Alfred finally blurted out, pounding his fist in his palm, "You look so fresh!"
"It's been half a year, of course I look fresh!" Antonio said before Elizabeta yanked his head back in place and he whimpered, a tear forming in his eye, "With that mop on my head shorter I'll be looking as fresh as ever, no?"
Antonio was a globetrotter. Found places to stay in exchange for work, and so he had made more acquaintances than Alfred could count on his fingers all over Europe. He proceeded to talk about what he had been doing for the last months. As the three talked about Antonio's travels and jolly encounters with strangers in the Netherlands, Alfred forgot all about the pain in his back and shoulders, even as he worked his body almost to the max. In terms of speaking, moving the shelf and taking down all the hair products was a simple enough task. But shoving the hefty shelf was another story. However, with Antonio and Elizabeta and himself rambling about topics ranging from the best pub in Amsterdam to Elizabeta being stupid enough to drink lake water, he did not mind one bit. Though not aware of it, he found it sad how time went by so quickly during moments of delight.
"So…" Antonio said and slowed down the high-energy conversation, "How are the twins?"
"You haven't seen them yet?" Elizabeta asked surprised and brushed some stray hair strands from Antonio's head.
"Tío, I justcame in! I thought I'd surprise them after this since they like to sleep in," Antonio replied with a cheerful shrug. Antonio was the one who had lived in the Vargas house before Feliciano and Romano arrived in Smalltown. Since these refuge towns were quickly running out of space due to the sheer abundance of people migrating to safer countries, he had taken the responsibility to let them live with him. When he had started traveling a few years ago, he left the house in the Vargas twins' full ownership and care in exchange for being able to stay there rent-free whenever he returned. Along with Gilbert, Antonio was often labeled one of the "big brothers" in town simply because they had been so welcoming when Alfred and the other youngsters came to town as children.
"Their airplane is starting to get mad cool," Alfred commented as he placed a thick layer of tissues underneath one corner of the shelf.
"Ah, man, I was scared they'd never get started on that project," Antonio laughed, "I left when they were still in the planning stages and knowing them, I wouldn't be surprised if they still hadn't done anything!"
"I wonder why they are making it in the first place," Elizabeta thought out loud. During the seconds they took to ponder, she cut big chunks of brown hair that fell gracefully to the floor.
"I have an idea, but that's for them to say," Antonio replied as he turned his head slightly side to side to observe his now exposed neck. Alfred had worked with the twins on this plane many times, asking the how's, the when's and the where's, but never the 'why'. Certainly, there had to be something important to them both that managed to keep them together despite their polar opposite personalities. Which meant that this glue had to do with the airplane, and frankly it piqued Alfred's interest greatly. He didn't know when the next time he'd work with them would be, but he made a mental note to ask whenever that was.
The bell rang as the entrance door opened, letting in a breeze of fresh and warm air. It was none other than one of the elderlies.
"How's the hedge holding up?" asked Alfred as Mrs. Moore with her self-proclaimed youthful movements despite the walking stick, slowly made her way through the salon.
"Looking good today, ma'am!" Elizabeta chirped, handing Mrs. Moore the magazine she always read and seemingly forgot she had read every time she went for a haircut, "How would you like your hair?"
"Buzz cuts are popular with the seniors nowadays," Antonio added, only to receive another yank of the head when Elizabeta suspected him of joking.
"I'm sorry, ma'am, he's jo-"
"Take it all," Mrs. Moore said nonchalantly, "Listen to the Spaniard."
Antonio smirked triumphantly at Elizabeta who did her best to not fuel his victory by not paying him attention and turned to Alfred instead.
"You take it, Alfred!"
On his feet in an instant, Alfred grabbed the shaver machine, attached the clipper guard, plugged the outlet, and turned it on. As he waited for the elderly lady to sit down, he listened to the juicy crackling in her hip bones.
"So, you just want me to take everything?" Alfred confirmed when she finally sat comfortably and wrapped the barber's gown around her. She only gave him a determined nod before she was completely immersed in the home décor magazine, and Alfred put the buzzing blade to her hairline.
"Oh, by the way," Antonio said and interrupted a brief silence, "I heard they're cleaning up the lake now?"
"Yup, and I'm a part of it!" Alfred cheered and pumped a hand in the air, "Getting paid generously too!"
Antonio and Elizabeta chuckled. "You must have some great plan with all the money you're saving," Elizabeta commented.
"Hm, like financial security?" Alfred replied sarcastically with an ever so subtle undertone of apprehension in his voice, before sighing, "But you guys are right. But I'll have to work loooots more to get there."
He now had Antonio and Elizabeta's full attention, leaving Antonio's hair looking choppy and funny as long as Elizabeta wasn't moving her hand.
"So, what is this great plan of yours?" Elizabeta asked and leaned onto one leg with arms crossed at her chest. The way the two were so attentive and open to hear Alfred's dream of going to university made him wobble between the option of telling them and the option of not, as it would surely be a boost to his morale to have more supporters. But all this time, he had refused to let anyone but Matt know, and although he hadn't come very far yet, he had been doing it for way too long to suddenly change the rules. Thinking about it, it probably wasn't such a bad saying that goals were more likely to be achieved if one kept it to themselves. Alfred had for sure thought it was a terrible idea originally to follow this advice, but wasn't that the exact thing he had been doing?
"I'm not telling you guys," Alfred smirked and brushed off the stray hair atop Mrs. Moore's head, "But well… If I don't find more jobs it'll take really long to achieve."
"You could ask Arturito for help, no?" Antonio suggested, to which Alfred quickly cut him off with a nonchalant chuckle.
Then it was Mrs. Moore's turn to speak, whose face was no longer buried in the horoscope for March.
"We may or may not have some coins for you, Kirkland," she said, making eye contact with Alfred in the mirror, "Since we are thinking of moving to the countryside, why don't you help us clean out the residence?"
Alfred's eyes lit up like two blue marbles in the sun.
"Oh, that's true!" he exclaimed muffled, "I have time when I'm done here!"
His eager smile turned into a question mark when everybody chuckled.
"Young people, so ambitious," Antonio sighed dramatically.
"Ah, the liveliness of youth," Elizabeta added before continuing her hair work.
Now Alfred sort of understood what Peter meant by finding it frustrating that everyone was so much older than himself. Ten years surely didn't sound too much, but that depended on where the age gap was. Ten years between a thirty- and a forty-year-old was nothing compared to ten years between a teenager and a 25-year-old.
"Then we will be waiting for you," Mrs. Moore said satisfied before her focus returned to the magazine.
"There you go!" Antonio smiled before snorting sarcastically, "Cayetano."
"Oh, I'll show you a ka-yee-tan-oh," Alfred said playfully. Not that he would ever become a rich boy since all his money would be spent on tuition fees if he got accepted into Newcastle anyway, but putting some humor into it all made the situation even the slightest more bearable. Even if neither Antonio nor Elizabeta knew about Alfred's "great plan", the fact that they rooted for him to become a rich kid was enough for him. Which reminded him that he had to send an application letter soon.
Translations:
- "Hombre ". Spanish. Literally translates to "man" and is used to express something like "dude", "bro", "man,", "my man" etc.
- "Tío ". Spanish. Literally translates to "uncle", but is also a slang to casually refer to other people. Also "tía" can be used for girls (which lit. means "aunt"), but "tío" works for both genders.
- "Cayetano ". Spanish. Negatively connotated slang for rich, often right-wing people. Like "rich kid".
Seeya next week, folks!