Ticket 1207 Read Online Free PDF Page A

woman.’”
    “I’m a confident woman,” Shawn repeated with absolutely no conviction.
    Theo swatted her on the nose with the feather. “Say it.”
    “I’m a confident woman.”
    “Feel it!”
    “I’m a confident woman,” Shawn said with a little enthusiasm.
    “You are not shy, you are a confident woman!”
    “I’m a confident woman.” Shawn punctuated the statement with a sneeze.
    “Feel it! Mean it! I am a confident woman, there is nothing I can’t do!”
    “There’s nothing I can’t do because I’m confident!”
    Theo swatted her in the face again. “Say it like I say it.”
    “Sorry.”
    “Child! A confident woman don’t apologize for something silly. Say it! I am a confident woman!”
    “I’m a confident woman! There is nothing I can’t do!”
    “Now yo gettin ’ it. Do you feel it?”
    “I do! I’m a confident woman!”
    “Now go across the street and get yo girl!”
    Shawn’s blue eyes widened. “I don’t think I’m that confident yet.”
    “Well, shit.” Theo blew out a breath and dumped half the powder from the tin on Shawn’s head and started to dance. “Say it. I am a confident woman, and I’m gonna win the heart of that jackass.”
    “Okay, you’ve gotta stop calling her names.”
    Theo grinned and tapped Shawn’s forehead with the feather. “Now yo feelin ’ it. Say it!”
    “I am a confident woman, and I am going to win Jill’s heart.”
    Theo nodded. “You are. You need one more thing.” She walked over to the counter, unlocked a box, and withdrew an amber vial. “Sprinkle this on her food, and she will be yours forever.”
    Shawn stared at it wide-eyed as Theo placed it in her palm. “What is it?”
    “It won’t hurt her. That’s one of Theo’s most potent love potions. Her heart will always be yours.”
    *******
    Rene’s smile vaporized as Shawn walked in the door. She was wet, and it looked like someone had tried to mix up biscuit batter on her head. “Hi, Shawn…how’re you today?”
    “Awesome,” she said as she looked around. “Where’s Jill?”
    “She had to run some errands, and she’s going to pick up lunch.”
    Shawn looked at her wrist out of habit. “What time is it?”
    “A little past eleven. You want another towel?”
    “Oh, no, I’m fine. That reminds me, I need to return the last one you loaned me. How long has Jill been gone?”
    “About ten minutes, she probably won’t be back until around one.”
    Shawn was disheartened by the news, she needed to get back to work, but she was feeling good and wasn’t about to back down. “I’ll wait if you don’t mind.”
    “I really don’t, but…what happened to you?”
    “Nothing, why?”
    “You need to have a look at yourself.” Rene pointed to the door at the back of the store. “Go through there, the restroom is on the right.”
    The look on Rene’s face conveyed to Shawn that she really didn’t need to question the offer. She walked behind the counter, through the door, and into the bathroom. When the light came on, she staggered back from the mirror. “Shit!”
    “You want that towel now…and some shampoo?”
    *******
    Whatever was in Theo’s special dust made Shawn’s hair stiff as a board, even though she washed it three times. She buffed it with a towel, and it stood off her scalp like a troll doll. She stepped out of the bathroom in a panic. “Rene, you wouldn’t happen to have a hat, would you?” she called out. But it sounded like there was a multitude of voices in the showroom.
    Shawn stepped back into the bathroom and tried to tame her mane, but the drier it became, the higher it stood. “Shit,” she whispered. In desperation, she wrapped the towel around her head like Theo’s turban and tried the back door. The deadbolt locked with a key, and it was nowhere in sight.
    Rene dropped the pen she was holding on the counter when Shawn stepped into the showroom. From beneath the towel, locks of hair pointed in all different directions. Shawn mouthed