Waiting for her boyfriend to reply to an email she sent a few minutes before, Theresa Chambers sighed when another bill came into her inbox first. A divorced 38 year old woman, she had been down on her luck the past few years. The divorce, her ex-husband had taken off with his young lover, left her with a house she couldn’t afford and no child support to assist.

That was four years ago and now, with the economy in the tank, she was really scared for the future. Currently she worked six, sometimes seven, days a week at one of the few locally owned stores left in their town, which had been taken over by large corporate stores. They survived week to week, mostly through the patronage of the local church and cheap organic farmer’s market. Theresa had gotten one of those bad loans the news always talked about; the interest on it crippled her finances. If she lost her job, certainly the house would go with it. Both of her parents were dead, her sister estranged from back when they were in high school; she had no family to turn to if things went south any further.

The only family she did have was her seventeen year old daughter Elizabeth. The formerly sweet blond had become a problem in the past year. Elizabeth had gotten into drugs and sex. She dressed, when bothering to attend, very promiscuously for school. Her boyfriend was a sleazy drug dealer who was at least five years older than her. Theresa sometimes wondered how Elizabeth afforded the expensive clothes she wore, but she didn’t allow her mind to drift there for too long at a time.

Theresa was the opposite of her daughter. She had never spent a lot of time on her appearance or chasing boys. Now nearing 40, she felt as unsexy a woman could approaching that scary age. The single mother was plain, rarely wearing much makeup. She had dark blond hair and blue eyes that men did find appealing. Despite being on the heavy side, she had not been blessed with larger breasts. This was something that often ruined things with men who did want to sleep with her.

Suddenly, as she daydreamed about her dreary life, her email pinged with the message she waited for. Andrew was a man a few years older than her which she met on an Internet dating website. He was new to the area, having moved to the very selective Horizon Falls community, about 15 miles west, six months ago. The slightly graying, dark haired, man was an executive at the community bank and seemed to be quite affluent and quickly becoming influential in the community.

Which was one of the things that puzzled Theresa. Why he had picked her to message out of the blue a few months back? Andrew noted how he enjoyed the honestly with which she spoke about the situation life had handed her. Their chats on IRC at night told him that she was dedicated, passionate, and eager for a fresh start. That was the kind of woman he wanted for himself; his first wife had passed away in a car accident three years before. Now he was ready to settle down and find a wife to begin a family with. He also had some political ambitions, at least locally, and would need a good wife to give off the right sort of family values the conservative Horizon Falls desired.

Conservative, Theresa noted as she read his latest email, Andrew certainly was in almost all ways. Theresa, a registered Republican, although she had not voted in years, did not mind this, but his old fashioned views did take some time to get used to. Finding him sincere, she had begun to warm to them recently and actually found it refreshing.

Andrew’s old fashioned values were pretty refreshing. He was kind and never pushed her for sex or anything else. The banker opened doors, said please, and always got her home at a decent hour. In his emails and their chats, he talked about duty and what he believed was a man’s obligation to the woman in his life to be strong, protective, and a bread winner. It was a troubling and confusing world; Andrew believed women needed a strong man to care for them.

A strong man, she had slowly gotten out of him during their chats, meant a very unmodern view of the world. He believed men should be the sole bread winner, if possible, it’s not always of course, and that women should be at home with the children. The woman should manage the home, the children’s daily activities, and other domestic concerns. The man manages the finances and public concerns. She can have a say in those things, but at the end of the day his word is final. Andrew, he repeated over and over, was firm in his belief that once a woman accepts a man as her husband that he should be trusted to make the right decisions without hesitation.

These values weren’t new to Theresa, but it was the first time she had confronted them in regards to her own life. The more time she spent with Andrew, the more his values made sense to the chubby blond. He had sent a few audio books and an mp3 player as an early birthday gift for her to listen to on her commute and while working out. The first was a religious book that she kept zoning out while listening to. Most of it had not registered for her, but she felt reassured that Andrew was a good man and the type of person she wanted to spend more time with in the future.

The second audio book was a lot different. It was the memoir of a formerly high-rising Fortune 500 executive who gave it all up to get married and focus on her family. The woman, Annie Vandevelde, gave up multi-million dollar bonuses and private jets to be a homemaker. Increasingly lately, especially since beginning to listen to the book, Theresa had begun to agree with this sentiment. A good part of her wished circumstances allowed for her to stay at home. Certainly, Elizabeth would have turned out better! Touching her stomach gently, the urge to start fresh with a new husband and children encompassed her for a moment.

Andrew and Theresa went on dates when she could get off of work. He impressed her on the first date by, right around the time most men expected at least oral sex, walking her to the blond’s door and only gently kissing her on the mouth. After eight dates, they still hadn’t made love; Andrew remarked that he felt it was inappropriate until he had properly won her heart. The next day was when the mp3 player and audio books arrived.

Theresa thought it was very sweet and quickly got used to such classy treatment. She accompanied him to a few businesses dinners after their early dates. He assured her constantly that her inexpensive formal clothes, brought at chain stores, were fine. If things go well, he mused, the banker would take care of all of that for her.

To this end, attached to today’s email was a gift certificate to the Perfect Little Angels salon in Horizon Falls. Her appointment was set for later in the day; she didn’t recall telling him today was her day off, but, funny enough, he seemed to always know. It didn’t dawn on Theresa to question why. The ECard stated Theresa was allowed a manicure/pedicure, hair styling, and fashion consultation. Looking at herself in the reflection of her laptop, she certainly felt like she could use a makeover. Knowing it would make Andrew very happy made waiting for her 3pm appointment excruciating.

Theresa had been listening to latest audio book for about a week. There was still a few more hours left to go. She eagerly put it in while working out and driving. Annie not only talked about her own biography and how the beautiful, the dust cover picture made her look like a middle aged super model, woman came to end her career abruptly. The brunette also wrote about some of the beliefs which had grown in her while having the first of her two children.

Annie had come to believe really strongly that women have a natural duty to be domestic and maternal. Even if a man fails to provide or live up to the expectations of marriage, it is a woman’s duty to embrace her nature. She repeated and emphasized this point numerous times throughout the book. This hit Theresa especially hard because of Elizabeth, but she also failed her. After the divorce, she had focused so much time and energy on working that her daughter barely knew her mother. No wonder she turned to drugs and unladylike behavior. “Unladylike behavior” was a phrase that Annie used a lot. It had just slid right into Theresa’s vocabulary.

Once she had told her story, discussed the reasons why she’d given up the Fortune 500 world, and offered some of the philosophical realizations that came with it, Annie continued by discussing her new life. She emphasized, through a number of examples, the fruitfulness of starting over with a new family and attitude. Past failures, whether divorce, poor career choice, or otherwise could be rectified with love, a new man, and most importantly children.

When Theresa arrived at the salon in Horizon Falls, the audio book had just moved to a new chapter about “attitudes.” She blinked a few times. The 15 minute drive had seemed like an instant while listening to Annie’s pleasing voice. Her narrating voice was very good and made it easy to digest what was being said as she drove.

Entering the parking lot, Theresa was impressed with how nice the strip mall that housed Perfect Little Angels was in comparison to ones in her own town. Along with the salon, there was a sports store, a “women’s boutique,” a small bistro, and a tanning salon. Perfect Little Angels itself was very overwhelming. Cloaked in bright neon color lights, the front seemed very modern and typical of these sorts of storefronts. Theresa passed a few bubbly teenagers leaving the tanning salon next door, who headed in the other direction toward the boutique, and stopped at the entrance. She pulled the gift certificate out of her pants pocket and unfolded it. “I want to look my best for Andrew,” the blond mused to herself.

Opening the door, Theresa was overwhelmed by what appeared before her. The salon was immaculately clean. A teenage girl in short shirts, a pink Perfect Little Angels baby doll tee, and wedge heels was bent over the front window organizing some of the magazines on the rack. She seemed to be hyper focused on making sure everything was in its right place. When Theresa walked by her towards the counter, the the dark haired girl, whose name tag read “Mindi,” didn’t acknowledge her.

At the counter a cheerful young lady, no older than Elizabeth, named Nikki greeted Theresa. The brunette wore a similar outfit to Mindi’s, except the top was purple instead of pink and could barely hold Nikki’s very large breasts. She looked like a fashion model, with the ideal doe eyed blissful sex appeal. “Hello, Theresa, we have been waiting for you!” She enthusiastically greeted her with a smile. Quickly, the girl typed a few sentences with French manicured nails. A long moment passed while she read something off of the screen, picked up the phone, and dialed an extension.

While waiting, Theresa looked around the salon to find that the rest of the all female staff was as beautiful as Nikki. Tanned, very feminine looking, and always smiling, every girl and woman who worked in the salon could have been models. The shampoo girl wore a similar outfit to the one Nikki and Mindi wore, this time with an extremely tight red shirt advertising the salon. The stylists and manicurists all wore very tight tops, skirts of different abbreviated lengths, and high heels.

Theresa’s nerves began to give out as she became more and more intimidated by the women around her. For some reason, nevertheless, she felt calmed by the mindless dance music that was played through the salon’s impressive stereo system. She relaxed a little bit, quietly muttering, “I need to relax; I am here to look my best.” A soft sigh left her mouth as the mantra played over and over in her mind. Sitting down in the waiting area, the blond paged through a pile of glamour shots showing off different hairstyles. Most of them showed different women who worked at the salon. The wavy, teased, curls of Nikki especially impressed Theresa.

After dreamily paging through them a bit more, Nikki broke Theresa out of her daydreaming to announce that the owner of the salon, Mr. Adams, would be out to see her in a moment. When she questioned this, Nikki cheerfully replied that he always met with new customers when they arriving for their first treatment.

Theresa was about to question the use of the word treatment when Mr. Adams called out to her as he stepped out of his office. “Ah, Theresa, what a little angel.”

Theresa tried to reply, but the words left her mind. She relaxed further and examined the man. He was very handsome, but not as handsome as Andrew, around her age, and seemed very confident and sure of himself. Dressed in a nice sweater and dress pants, he looked professional without the heavy burden of the suits that Andrew often wore. He took her hand gently and smiled. Theresa felt a growing contentedness pass over her like a fog. “Now, what are we doing for you today?” The blond felt a shiver go through her as he lay a hand on her arm.

Theresa passed the gift certificate to him. “My boyfriend Andrew got me a manicure, hair styling, and a fashion consultation.” A bit of her mind wondered what that last part was, but then her subconscious focused back on the music coming from the stereo which Nikki had gone and adjusted when Mr. Adams came out of his office. “I want to look my best for Andrew.”

Taking her hand, the blond haired man began to escort Theresa through the salon. “Looking your best is very important, my dear. Here at Perfect Little Angels, we believe that enhancing the body and what adorns it will bring out the best in a woman.” He stopped for a moment to speak to a stylist about the progress of a young woman’s, currently sitting silently in the chair behind her, makeover.

Theresa looked around as they stood near the middle of the salon. Quickly, as mini-skirted, beautiful employees of Perfect Little Angels worked nearby and passed her by as they worked, she began to feel intimated. She was pretty plain, and was becoming self conscious. Mr. Scott noticed her frown as she gazed around the room. “Is something the matter, little angel?” He pointed to a chair where she obediently sat down.

Before she could stop herself, Theresa began to speak. “I am really intimidated by all the beautiful women who work here. I feel really plain in comparison.” She did feel overwhelmed. Why would a great man like Andrew want her? Why even bother!

Smiling reassuringly, the owner of Perfect Little Angels waved his hand toward his workers. “They are all quite beautiful, this is very true Theresa. However, I believe you are also attractive.” He paused at her gentle blush. “You have nice hips, pretty green eyes, and blond hair that women spend a lot of money to attain.” He continued to speak encouragingly, but Theresa’s brain was fogging as he coaxed her into compliance. Satisfied she was ready to begin her treatment today, he stood back. “Are you ready for your treatment now, Theresa?”

Theresa blinked a few times and stood up. “I can’t wait to begin my treatment Mr. Scott.” She smiled and snuggled into him as he put his arm around her. They walked to a table in the back where a manicurist eagerly waited for them.

Having observed Theresa’s interactions with her boss from her spot at the front desk, Nikki determined that Theresa was compliant enough to begin her treatment. The pink tips of her French nails began tapping out a number burned into her mind during her weekly treatment.