Chasing Gatsby - Chapter 2 - TheFamily Business (part 2)

Chapter 2 – The Family Business

After landing in Raleigh there wasn’t much time to wade into the work that my dad had going on at the time. The day after I arrived my dad took me to a project he had going on in Chapel Hill, NC. I knew my dad needed my help. I had no idea how urgently he had to get it completed within a week of me arriving, thus his urgency of getting me to work.

The project was a nail salon for this group of Vietnamese women from Boston, it was funded by the youngest sister who had grown quite impatient with the constant delay in schedule and excuses offered up by my dad. “Vy” she shouted as we approached the brown paper covered storefront of the project, “When are you going to be finished, our grand opening is the end of next week”, my dad offered up a slew of excuses for not being complete. He dug through his keys finding the key for the store and quickly unlocked the door, as I stepped inside behind the owner and my dad I could see that little to no work had been done. Raw slab floor, partially painted walls, partially removed ceiling, and kilted light fixtures I had no idea what I had got myself into, but because of my experience in construction, roofing specifically. I had already started to formulate a plan of attack, as the owner and my dad discussed the state of the salon, although it was discussed in Vietnamese, I could tell by all the hand gestures it wasn’t good. The shop owner was about my age, quite attractive, fair skin, dark black/ brown hair, high supple cheek bones, average figure, she had an air of confidence about her that was oh so sexy. Confidence was an aphrodisiac for me, a woman with average looks but a great sense of self could win me over in a heartbeat, which the owner eventually did. She would often visit the shop and shoot me a look that would capture my attention for a good bit.

The work had progressed quite well with in the first few days of me and my dad teaming up, we had torn out the remainder of the suspended ceiling, we had laid more than half of the new rose colored tile throughout the salon, my dad had begun framing up the walls for the wax room, I was currently framing up the box to hide the water and electrical lines for the spa chairs used for the pedicures. My dad had enlisted the help of an old Army vet Tony, black, tall skinny, bald head with a goatee about his mouth, mid-fifties if I had to guess from the neighborhood my dad lived in in Goldsboro, NC. Tony was an “alchy” as my dad would often refer to alcoholics, I would often smell the roll of beer from his breath in the morning when picking him up in the morning. Tony was working on painting and seemed to be the only task he wanted to do or was apt enough to perform, we went through a lot of paint. If it weren’t for the fact that my dad had a soft spot for Tony, I would have fired him for sheer negligence not to mention his laziness and lack of attention to detail, so much for military discipline.

We worked tirelessly for the next few days to gain control of the depleting time we had to complete the project on time. We moved in the Luxor spa chairs connecting the water supply lines, plugging in and testing the chairs, and the owner’s sister jokingly offered up a pedicure. The whole team came together to get this project ready for the fire inspection and consequently the final inspection from the city of Chapel Hill. After moving all the dark wood faux laminate manicure tables and the drying tables, we were ready for the inspections to commence so we thought.

My dad was able to get the fire inspection scheduled for the following morning on Friday as well as the final with the city. My dad alerted me to the time of 9am for the fire marshal and 10:30am for the city building inspector. I woke early around 6am and ready myself for any punch items that may arise during the inspection, hand tools, cordless drivers, fire caulking, I was ready for anything. I dressed for an easy inspection, Express dark washed denim jeans, relaxed fit, dark gray Couture printed V-neck t-shirt and with my Bucky Lasik DC skater shoes, to clear my view I washed my black thick framed designer eyeglasses under warm running water and soap. I sprayed on my signature scent and headed out for the inspection. I wanted it to go well as I had plans for the weekend, my cousin Ngu had turned twenty-two years old and was having his birthday party in Greenville, NC, he and his older brother Luan had been attending college at East Carolina University, also where my mom had graduated back in 1993. I arrived at University Mall around fifteen after eight, enough time to grab coffee from Starbucks in the mall and walk the salon one last time before the inspections.

I walked to the counter at Starbucks with only a couple people in front of me ordering. The mall wasn’t much to behold quite small you could walk the entire length in only a few minutes, I remembered the mall from my earlier years in North Carolina, there was only a few department stores Belk, Dillard’s and Rose’s with the only new additions to speak of were the Chick-a-filet and the Starbucks I was patroning. As I came to the register I was greeted by a short brunette with a big smile gleaming with pearly whites, she was most likely working here while attending the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill that was right up the road a three-minute drive up the road from the mall, she was a cutie. “ What can I get you this morning, hun?” she said with a heavy southern drawl in her voice, that accent was to die for, I was used to that Midwest accent which you could only discern through word usage not accent pop, instead of soda if you will. Maybe it was because the south was new to me again or maybe because I really did love being in the south again but it was definitely growing on me. I order my go to ”Venti Caramel Macchiato with two extra shots of espresso , extra hot” I said with high cheek smile, she took my money and handed me my change telling her “thank you ma’am” as I put a few dollars into the tip container by the register. She shot me a side glance and a smile as she prepared my drink, “ got her '' I thought to myself, which is a phrase I used when I had caught the interest of the fairer sex. Yes I was a little arrogant, when it came to my conquests of the women, I had not gotten much attention in my younger years as all my friends seemed to get the girls and I was always taking the grenades for my boys. The grenade is the least attractive girl in a group, a reference made from a soldier jumping on top of a live grenade so his fellow soldiers would not be hit by the shrapnel. I enjoyed the attention I got from women, but the downside was that it inflated my ego. I was surprised my head could fit through the door. I grabbed my coffee and put it towards my nose and inhaled deeply, this was sort of a ritual I had, I don’t know where it developed from, but I knew what came next I walked back toward the entrance near the salon facing north toward Durham, fingering in my pockets as I backed into the door to open it, pulling my pack of cigarettes from my pockets. I stood off to the side of the entrance smoking my cigarette and sipping my coffee in the brisk air as the sun began to warm my face and the coffee my chest, forecasting my day “ inspection, no punch list, lunch with my dad, head off to Greenville for the weekend and a break from the fourteen hour days”. I walked back into the mall towards the salon, the owner was there and she looked quite nervous about the inspections. I assured her that everything would go swimmingly and that there was nothing to worry about,” we’re good” I said. We waited, talking casually about how all her sister’s had quit their jobs in Boston and moved to the Carolinas to open this nail salon together. The owner was quite successful and as I suspected was close to my age at twenty-six years old and she was a business owner, almost anyways. “This shop has to work” she asserted “we moved everything here” it must succeed, I flattered her when I muttered “ with you running things, it will”, she smiled bigger than I had seen her before, “ got her”. The time was approaching and the fire marshal showed at about twenty after nine, no surprise he was late, inspectors typically are just to show their stature in and tenuous power. He walked through the salon, made notes on inspection form, reviewed the new electrical at the spa chairs and waxing room nodding his head in approval, looked at the construction permit on the wall, signed the fire inspection and handed me a copy. I read it, “ inspection approved, provided compliance with ADA requirements as noted by the building inspector on permit”, my chest sunk as walked toward the construction permit on the wall and read the building inspectors notes, “The bathroom does not meet ADA requirements as noted in city of Chapel Hills building code, bring bathroom to code, reinspect required.” The owner was irate to say the least she now had to push back the shop's grand opening scheduled for the first of the following week. I phoned my dad and asked if he knew that the city already performed the building inspection, and that it failed inspection, with little hesitation he replied “yes, I thought I told you.”, he had not mentioned it at all. He set me up to take the wrath of the owner but because we had started to build a relationship outside the realm of work issues, she blamed my dad in totality. I reassured her I would address the issues with my dad and give her a call with a remedy to get her shop open.

I went over to the Asian market off of Capitol Boulevard where my step mom Rose ran a small store and my dad was helping the owner with issues that occurred with the original contractor. Dad’ “what the fuck, why didn’t you tell me about the inspection?” I laughed, “I could have, had the conversation with the owner beforehand and sweet talked to her” ,”you set me up”. My dad turned red, that was a telling sign he was either embarrassed or about to get angry, he started to get angry then realized I was joking and trying to make light of the situation. We ate lunch prepared by the owner of the Asian Market, I ordered a Vietnamese rice dish, com dac biet which means rice with everything and it had all my favorites Vietnamese quiche, bbq pork, grilled shrimp, and lemongrass beef, my dad just had pho pretty common everyday dish, we ate with periodic small talk mixed in, my dad asked if I could pick up my step brother Phai from school at their old apartments, which I agreed. My dad new of my plans for the weekend to cut loose with my cousins in Greenville, he was quite understanding of the long hours I had worked and knew I needed a break from my younger brothers Phai and Jai, there was a vast age difference with Phai being seventeen years younger and Jai being twenty-two years younger than myself.

I picked up my brother Phai who was sitting on the bench near where the Wake Forest School bus picked up the kids at the apartments. He noticed me in the car as I pulled up and ran to the car. He swung open the door, and jumped in, buckling his seat belt. We drove back to the Asian Market to drop him off before I headed to Greenville. I needed to get some money from my dad as well before heading out. We pulled into the parking lot off of Capitol Boulevard and headed toward the door, I guess my dad had seen me pull in as he was walking toward me fumbling in his wallet counting out cash, handing me five hundred dollars in three hundreds, one fifty and smaller denotations of bills, “ here’s your pay, have fun” he said, he spoke almost immediately after “ when you think you’ll be back here to work?” , I could tell he was worried about getting the salon finished and the remaining eight thousand dollars that was still owed as final payment for the job. “I should be back Sunday afternoon”, “Ngu’s party is tonight, I can relax, recover and hang out with Luan and Ngu Saturday, come back Sunday ready for work”, I was already prepared for this line of questioning, I had learned to think and be ten steps ahead. It was a trait that I got from my dad, my dad was great at out thinking most people but he was slipping in his older years and was much different with my step family than he was with me and my sisters growing up, somehow softer more forgiving with my step brothers than when my sisters and I were younger.

It was still early in the day around two, with a forty-five minute drive back to the house in Goldsboro to pack a bag for the weekend and about an hour drive to Greenville from the house, I needed to grab my bag for the weekend which I packed the night before. I pulled into the driveway under the car port and ran inside the single story brick house, went into my room, grabbed my bag and headed back to the car wasting no time. I entered the address my cousin Ngu had given me for the place he worked at in Greenville, on Red Banks Road and headed down the road. The GPS was dated so it took me through the back way on the country roads, which I enjoyed traveling more than the interstate. Winding through the rural state roads reminded me of the summers I spent at my grandparents’ farm in Southwest Missouri, passing cow pastures, the smell of chicken shit from the coupes and the views of vast soybean fields was peaceful. My mind wondered of the night ahead and what it would bring. I missed my cousins the last time we were all together was in Vegas for my older sister’s wedding which didn’t happen so I ended up being a family reunion of sorts. My cousin Luan and my self wondered up and down the Vegas Strip, me purchasing all the alcohol, it was also the weekend of the Pacquiao – Barrera fight, we spoke to all the drunk girls, Luan scaled a construction fence at the Frontier and swung from it on Las Vegas Boulevard, had a long conversation with a guy who came from the fight and chain smoked all my cigarettes, it was a good time. My cousin Ngu came to Vegas later in the trip after a wrestling tournament, he fell asleep on The Deuce as me an Luan were chatting up these two girls staying at the Paris hotel, we had sometimes together, we had grown up together back in the day in Dudley, NC after they moved there from Vietnam. We had an unbreakable bond, we were brothers, I would kill for these guys and die just as equally for them.