A Poor Lost Soul

When I know I'm heading up to New Jersey or New York, I like to time my next manicure/pedicure to coincide with the trip. Sure, I have a regular joint that I get my nails done in Virginia, but if I get a chance to be in New Jersey or New York City -there is a nail salon in each place that I love going to...the Nail Club...Spa II in West Caldwell and Rehoboth Nails off 14th Street, near Washington Square. For the same price as a manicure and pedicure in Virginia, I get so much more out of the two places in New York and New Jersey - namely, a sea salt scrub, callus treatment and a hot stone massage. It's heavenly!

On my most recent trip to the Nail Club, I was thoroughly enjoying my pedicure treatment - with the sea salt leg scrub and the hot stone massage....I could've sat in that massage chair for the rest of the day! After the pedicure was complete, I headed over to a manicure booth so that she could shape and treat my finger nails. While sitting at the booth, two other patrons, an elderly mother and her middle-aged daughter, came in to get their nails done. The elderly mother went first and sat in the booth next to me. In the process of being seated, the daughter explained that her mother just wanted a basic manicure and that she wanted something sheer pink. The daughter ended up picking out the color and all was good. As the mother was getting her nails done, she asked the Korean nail technician, 'Is my husband going to pick me up?' This is when warning bells started going off in my head. The nail technician wasn't the best in English language and I didn't know what to say, but her daughter, sitting in the nearby waiting area, said, 'Ma - I'm taking you home...you're coming back to my house.' And that seemed to satisfy her mother.

When the mother is finished (I feel kind of bad because she got totally jipped out of a sea salt scrub for her hands), she gets put in the nearby drying area to let her nails dry. Her daughter takes the seat next to me now and I compliment her purse - it is a nice purse but that's about all the small talk I was making. As the daughter and I were getting our nails done simultaneously, you heard another peep out of her mother at the drying station, 'Does my husband know to come here to pick me up?'
Her daughter swiveled around to face her mother and said, 'Ma - Dad is home with Jim. They're all back at my house.'
'Then how am I going to get home,' Ma asked.
And the daughter replied, 'Through me, Ma. I'm going to take you home,'
This satisfied Ma.

Finally I'm finished and I get sent over to the drying station. I sit down next to Ma as I patiently wait for my fingers and toes to dry. I'm drying for about two minutes when Ma turns to me and says, 'I hope my husband knows to come and pick me up.'
I said, 'I think you'll be fine. You'll be going home with your daughter.'
'And she's sitting right there - on the other side,' she asked.
'Yes - she's there. Don't worry,' I said.
Since the chairs in the nail booths are really like executive swivel chairs with high backs, she couldn't see her daughter.
Another minute goes by and Ma says, 'People must think I'm crazy - but I'm not. I'm just in an unfamiliar place. And I don't know how I'm getting home.'
That's when her daughter swiveled back around and said, 'Ma - you're with me - I'm going to bring you home. Okay? Don't worry.'
I smiled back at Ma - hoping she was reassured and at the same time, pitying her for what looked like the beginnings of senility.

I was really in a rush because I was going to go surprise my nephew and pick him up at school - so I only had a few minutes before I needed to leave. But I also felt like I should stay with Ma to make sure she was okay. Ma did thank me for talking to her and reassuring her of everything - she said that not many people would but it was very nice that I did.

Okay - so maybe Ma's not so senile.