The Ultimate Solution
by
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Dianna picked out the outfit she would wear when she met the person from Tantalus, a white cotton peasant blouse, which was in fashion again this year, and a full skirt of washed silk in blue pastel with a ring of large printed roses above the hem. She could smell Mrs. 0' Brian's coffee brewing. Before leaving the room, she checked on Adam. He looked peaceful, which was a good sign. Dianna went down to the kitchen. The red marble tiles were cold against her feet "Good morning, Mrs. O'Brien." "Good morning, Mrs. Harrison, and it is a fine day, isn't it'?" "Yes, it is"' Dianna replied fixing her morning cup. "Hopefully, if all goes well it will be an even better day." "God willin’, ma' am." Theirs was a professional relationship. Dianna stepped out onto the back porch. It was warmer outside than in. She was nervous about this meeting. She tried to imagine what they were trying to sell. She knew she had time, so she watched the life in her garden carry on. "Mrs. Harrison, there's a peddler here to see you. She said she spoke with you yesterday." "Is it that time already? Yes. yes. Mrs. O'Brien, please show her into the kitchen." Her coffee cup in her lap was empty and cold. She didn't even remember drinking it. She had no recollection of what she had been thinking. "Oh well, let's go see what this Tantalus is all about." In the kitchen was a somewhat unpleasant looking woman with a roundish face with a rather blotchy, ruddy complexion, a lumpy, shapeless body, short, curly, straw colored hair who didn't waste a minute. "Mrs. Harrison, I'm Duessa Arnold. May I call you Dianna? Dianna, I'm here to show you how you can have fine, manageable hair, even Black hair such as your own. "First off, Mrs. Arnold, I'm not Black. Secondly, a Black girl can straighten, perm, and set her hair. I can't. "Oh, I'm sorry. I just assumed by your hair style." "No need to apologize. This, so far is the only style that's truly made me happy, but I can't walk around like Nefratire for the rest of my life . . . " "Well, with the Tantalus System, Dianna, we can safely say that you'll be able to get the results you want after regular use. Let me give you a background of the Tantalus System." Dianna felt the same way she had felt when her grandmother put her hair up in rags. Sitting at the table in her spacious kitchen, en-twining and rubbing her feet together in excitement just as she had done that night so long ago. She realized she was barefoot. This in itself was by no means unusual, but to receive some one barefoot, was not proper, but this ill-favored woman was, after all, one of the riffraff.
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About the Book
In the not too distant future Dianna Harrison, a high priced corporate financial consultant, a daughter of old money, has everything she wants, a loving husband, two sons at Sandhurst-on-Sound, an exclusive military school, and an old Victorian estate in the village of Old Claremont on Long Island’s North Shore. She is a long-legged beauty with the figure of a lingerie or swimsuit model, and a dark olive complexion. What she doesn’t have is a mane of long, flowing ebony locks. Instead she has a cock’s comb of black unmanageable frizz, which can neither be straightened nor permed. She would try anything to have a cascade of blue-black anthracite crashing over her shoulders and pouring down her back, including selling her soul. Set in a time where the control a woman has over her body has been scientifically advanced, extended, and firmly protected by law, Dianna may finally have found the final solution to her self-esteem problem. She finds it in a simple cream rinse. She is happy with it until she hears about a process called "The Tantalus System." Two stumbling blocks stand in her way, Jo-lee, her hairdresser, and Alison Coney, her slightly twisted friend.
About the Author
The author is married, has six kids, and lives on Long Island’s North Shore on Oak Neck.