When Is a Pedicure More Than a Pedicure?

Sometimes we have to pretend we’re not living through a raging pandemic and do something “normal” — like going to a nail salon. It’s been months since my tootsies were catered to and recently, I decided to treat myself. In some ways it was the same as before, with my usual embarrassing neuroses, but in others, it was very different.

Instead of popping into the local nail salon at will, I now call and make an appointment, waiting in my car till I’m waved in. I’ve been coming to this tiny Connecticut strip mall for twenty years. Sadly, signs of Covid-19 are everywhere. Once healthy businesses, like the coffee shop, hair salon, and Japanese restaurant, have limited hours and look like shells of their former selves.

In ten minutes, the salon door opens, and a woman leaves. Mark, the owner — thin, Asian, mid-thirties — waves me in. I swallow back sadness. The waiting area is now roped off, chairs stacked on top of each other. This once bustling shop with three or four chatty, hard-working attendants is still. Only Mark is there to give manicures and pedicures.

We both wear masks. I’m told to pick my color and I choose my usual bright, hot pink. By now, everyone (including Mark) knows my idiosyncrasies – I like polish on my toes, but not my fingernails, since it chips so quickly. “Not even clear?” the women always asked when I got manicures, and I always answered, “No, thank you.”

I sit in the first pedicure perch. That’s when it becomes easier to pretend everything’s normal, except I miss the trashy magazines. On the walls are two flat screen TV’s, both showing a cooking show contest centered around cauliflower. The air has a clean, soapy smell.

Mark rarely gives pedicures, but he’s given me a few over the years. He knows to go extra gentle with that metal pointy cuticle thing that brings to mind World War II movie torture scenes. He goes especially slow with that scratchy callous brush that makes me want to wince, laugh, and scream at the same time. I flinch when he starts the foot massage and he gives his usual laugh. “Ticklish?” he asks, and then goes extra soft. (God, I’m a wuss).

I ask how’s business, and he gives the same weary shrug I’ve seen with all the local merchants. “It’s tough,” he says in a thick Asian accent. I know Mark has a family and drives a large white van from Queens, New York to Connecticut each day, a 90-minute commute if traffic is good. Life was already hard and now it’s harder.

He wraps gauze around my toes and carefully paints on the polish. After, I look down and as usual, he’s done a beautiful job. The rest of me may be a mess, hair needs trimming and I’ve worn the same pants for three days, but my toes are rocking.

For a second, I can almost believe life is normal again. Except the shop is empty and quiet. The next customer’s probably waiting in her car.

I pay at the register and always tip well, but today give a few extra dollars. It’s not much, but the least I can do. Mark gives a surprised thank you and we say goodbye.

Back in the car, I take off the mask and Purell hands, steering wheel, and gear shift. I watch Mark wave in another customer and wonder what will happen to him and so many others in this area, a once-thriving community of shop keepers and patrons.

I look down at my feet and wonder if like many things we used to do without thinking – going to the library, a local restaurant, walking into a store — will this professional pedicure be a thing of the past? Or will a vaccine come along and life will rebound back to normal?

Or will there be a third option, some hybrid of the two worlds we can’t imagine? The unknown is scary.

When is a pedicure more than a pedicure? When it’s a reminder of an easier time, when we didn’t know how lucky we were.  I recently wrote a post about the struggling restaurants in our area, but I see now how every business has been affected.

I sigh and drive away.

 

Have you received a pedicure during the pandemic…or treated yourself in any way? Comments are always welcome and if you’d like, please share.

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