Holy Mother of Debra (Chapter 2)

                Later that day, Debra's mother decides to spend time with her children by taking them to the nail salon. Debra and her mother were at the tables, getting their nails done, while Leroy unsuccessfully hit on grown women in the waiting section of the shop. The women chatted as the manicurists glued acrylic nails on their fingers.

                "Why don't you want to get a car?" asked the mother. "Every teenage girl has a car."

                "Cars pollute the air," responded Debra.

                "So? Everyone in Laguna drives a car and guess what?" Debra's mother took a big whiff of the air. "I breathe in this air every single day."

                "Well, if I get a car, it has to run on vegetable oil."

                "Vegetable oil? Ain't nobody got money to buy a bunch of vegetable oil."

                "Then I don't want a car."

                "Well, if it's all it takes..."

                "Hey, Chantal!" a large African-American woman with wild brown hair said before approaching the two.

                Debra's mother turned her head without moving her arm. "Hey, Sher-ond!"

                "Is that your daughter?!"

                "Yeah! This is Debra."

                "How you doin', Debra?"

                "I'm doing 'spectacu-some'," Debra smiled.

                "What does that mean?"

                "I don't know, girl," responded Debra's mom. "She's been talking like that all day."

                "I never seen Debra at the nail salon with you."

                "Well, she just decided to come with me today."

                "Actually, you dragged me here," corrected Debra.

                "Aren't you having fun?"

                "Well, getting my nails crafted is kinda relaxing."

                "Yeah, it is poppin'," said the big woman. "I get my nails done every week."

                "What's your name again?"

                "'Sher-ond'."

                "Oh, that's pretty. How do you spell it?"

                "S-H-A-R-O-N."

                Debra took some time to think, but not that much time. "Doesn't that spell 'Sharon'?"

                "What you call me?!"

                "Easy, Sher-ond," commanded Debra's mother. "Her name is 'Sher-ond'."

                "I'm sorry," Debra awkwardly giggled.

                "Well, I gotta go get my legs waxed," said Sharon. "I'm having a man come over."

                "Ooh, go get your legs waxed, girl," purred Debra's mom.

                Sharon entered the open door by the tables which led to a room full of customers getting waxed.

                "All done," said the manicurist, who was doing Debra's nails, with a grin.

                Debra looked down at her hands since her eyes were away from them for a while. Attached to her bare short nails were one-and-a-half inch long, rectangular nails colored mauve. She goggled at the long nails while holding her hands in the air.

                "That's cute," commented her mother.

                Debra tried to make fists with her hands but she failed to do so. "I can't close my hands," she noticed.