Chapter Eight
Dax
I got up early and left before Olivia was up. She looked so sexy and peaceful sleeping in the big old bed. Her dark hair was fanned out around her all over the pillow. I was tempted to wake her up at first and make love to her again, but I made myself refrain. I tiptoed around and got dressed. I had actual important things to do.
I met my mom at her bank first. She helped me get a business account set up. Then, we went by and talked to the guy who owned the building downtown that we were thinking about renting. He opened it up and let us take a look around. It had been a tattoo shop in the past, so it was kind of already set up with a curtained back room and plenty of space to store things and to put a sterilizer machine. I liked it and so did my mom, so I wrote my first business check and put a deposit down on it. I had to have a business address before I could finish my licensure application.
We went back to my mom’s house and went online and printed off the application for licensure and all of the requirements. Although I’d already read them, I wanted to go through them again. One of the requirements was a Health and Safety class that I would have to take. I registered for one online but I’d have to go take the class in person. The soonest class I could get into was on Tuesday the following week. It was still early in the day though so I gave Greg, the guy who does my tattoos, a call and asked him if I could sit in for the day with him. He said I could watch until I was comfortable and he was even okay with me doing one. I thought spending the day in the shop might help me with my class and to pass my certification test. It might be surprising to some, but even though he was a convicted felon, Greg was a stickler for the law when it came to his business and his licensure. It would be good to spend the day watching him. I thanked my mom…profusely.
Before I headed over to Greg’s place, I called Olivia. “Hey baby! What are you doing?”
“Hey! I’m cleaning. Well, I actually just finished up. What are you doing?”
“I got all my ducks in a row today to get my business up and running. I’m pretty damn excited.”
“Congrats. You should be excited. I’m so proud of you!”
“Thanks,” I told her. “How about we get dressed up like normal people tonight and we go out and celebrate?”
“Out? Like on a date?”
“Why do you sound so surprised? I used to take you out all the time.”
“It’s just been a long time since I’ve been out on a real date,” she said.
“Dax is back!” I told her, full of myself at that moment. It finally felt like I’d taken a couple of steps forward. One foot in front of the other.
I went on over to see Greg and he was okay with me watching him and signing me off on watching me do one. He didn’t get very many customers that weren’t ex-cons, but that was okay with me because that was who I was used to tatting in the first place.
I watched him do three of them all together. The first guy wanted a Raiders symbol on his back. It was a big ass tattoo. Greg did the outline while I watched and then sent the guy on to return back the following week to start coloring it in. Next, he did the same guy’s wife. She had all three of her kids’ names tattooed on her right shoulder with little footprints and hearts in different colors. It turned out really good. I was impressed with Greg’s artistic abilities.
The next guy looked young. He tried to tell Greg that he was eighteen, but he didn’t have a driver’s license or I.D. Greg wouldn’t touch him without seeing proof of his age. The kid got flustered and finally admitted that he had just turned sixteen. His dad was getting ready to get out of prison in a few weeks and the kid thought if he had a tattoo when the old man got out, he would be impressed. Greg explained the law to him and the fact that it was his licensure and his livelihood on the line if he didn’t follow the laws. If his dad wasn’t impressed, Greg could be in a lot of trouble. The kid left dejected, but Greg’s licensure was intact.
We had some lunch. The pink-haired girlfriend cooked and the purple-haired sister served. Those three had a strange relationship. One that I was sure I didn’t really want to know any more about.
After lunch we got back to it. A guy about my age who had just got out of Corcoran State Prison came by looking to get one of his prison tats removed. Greg explained the process to him and I listened, but then Greg told him he didn’t have the equipment to remove them. He told him who would have it and where he would go if it were him.
Greg explained, “The laser stuff is the best way to go, but it’s expensive for to me to buy the equipment and for you to get the tat taken off. I have a list of a few places not far away that will do it for you and they come highly recommended. Then again, it’s a long, hard process. You may want to look at just covering it up with something else.”
The guy showed Greg the tattoo in question. It was a big one on his side. I could see why he wanted it taken off. It was a big, ugly, black swastika. In prison, it showed you were part of a certain group, which was important for your own protection. Out on the streets though, it was offensive as hell to anyone who saw it.
Greg checked it out and asked, “What about football? You got a team?”
“Cowboys fan,” the guy said.
Greg gave him a raised eyebrow look that told him how he felt, but he said, “I could cover it with a dark blue star and some silver around the edges. It’ll take a couple of sessions and it won’t be cheap, but I’m willing to bet it’ll be cheaper than getting it removed.”
“That’s cool,” the guy told him. “Can we start today?”
“Sure, I’ve got my happy helper here,” he said about me.
“How about if I do the outline Dax and you can take over coloring it in? If you feel comfortable I’ll have you do the silver outline also.”
“Yeah, that sounds great,” I told him.
Once Greg was finished with the outline of the star, I started the coloring in process. It was a big star so the coloring in was going to take a while. I worked on him for about an hour before he said he had enough and he wanted to come back in a few days to finish. After he left, I asked Greg a few more questions about his tools and techniques and then I thanked him and went to get ready for my date with Olivia.