Eliza: (with a clap) So. We’ll start with three products, please attend to the Powerpoint-
Aaron: Why did you set this up in our bedroom? Why not the garage or the living room?
Eliza: Because the garage isn’t as comfortable the bed to sit on. I was thinking of you honey.
Aaron: Okay, but what are the odds this is going to be done by bedtime?
Eliza: (briskly) Well that’s what the bed is for. (half flirting half teasing) Aren’t you glad I let you sleep there instead of the garage? (back to professionalism) So we’ll lead with hair ties, sturdy combs and some afro-proof conch clips.
Aaron: Conch what?
Eliza: Conch clips… you know…those hair clips with the squeezy back parts that are shaped kind of like a claw, or conch, or the rib cage of a dead buffalo.
Aaron: (indignantly) They’re called claw clips.
Eliza: What? Conch clips are what my mamma always called them.
Aaron: (still indignant) Do you know what conch look like? They’re snails.
Ruby: How do you know so much about hair care products?
Aaron: My parents own a beauty supply store.
Ruby: And also remind me why I have to be here?
Eliza: (condescendingly) Obviously. You gotta be part of this. We’re gonna be like the collective Steve Jobs’ of hair care products.
Aaron: (flatly) There are so many people who actually work in the beauty industry that you could have mentioned.
Ruby: And I never asked to be part of your bad idea.
Eliza: Come on, it'll be fun. We’ll be like the three musketeers.
Aaron: (sarcastically) The three marketeers if you will…
Ruby: (indignantly) -Who also start the book with very bad ideas. (emphatically) That could have landed them in the grave!
Aaron: Well, if we let Eliza drive this mission that’s definitely an option. Though we probably won’t be able to afford graves.
