Page 5 of Forbidden Harmony

“Hello, I’m Nix Cordell. You must be Preacher.”

“I am,” Preacher said. “You want a coffeeor some water?”

“No thanks,” Nix said.

He was wearing a dark green dress shirtwith a grey tie and a pair of jeans. Like Preacher, his face was clear of tattoos,but there were a few peeking out from the collar of his shirt, and Preacher hadno doubt that the rest of his body was fully inked.

“Follow me,” Preacher said.

He returned to the piercing room, shuttingthe door behind Nix and pointing to the chair he’d brought in from the lobby. “Goahead and have a seat.”

Despite himself, he was already impressed withNix. Hell, just the fact that he was wearing clean clothes and didn’t reek ofweed and alcohol was a small miracle. He grabbed a stool and set it a few feetin front of Nix. The tattoo artist looked to be close to his age, and heprojected an aura of confidence.

Nix handed over the black binder he carried.“Some of my work.”

“Thanks.” Preacher flipped through thebinder, concealing the pleased look on his face. The guy could tattoo, and aslong as he didn’t completely fuck up the question portion of the interview,Preacher was fucking hiring him.

He closed the binder and returned it to Nix.“How long you been tattooing?”

“Since I was twenty-three, so eight yearsnow. I apprenticed with Akio Morimoto.”

Preacher made a low whistle. “You serious?”

Nix nodded. “I got lucky. My old man wasa delivery driver. Used to deliver Morimoto’s supplies to his shop. Theybecame friends.”

“You originally from New Cassel?” Preacher said.

“Yes. Moved to Maine for a few years and workedin a shop there. Moved back to New Cassel about six months ago and tattooed ata shop over on the west side. Then I saw your posting online.”

“Harmony Falls is a lot different from NewCassel. You ever live in a small town before?”

“In Maine,” Nix said.

“I know the town seems busy right now butit’s tourist season,” Preacher said. “I’m looking for someone who isn’t gonna quiton me once it’s winter and shit dies down.”

“I won’t quit.” Nix stared steadily athim. “I hate the city and I’m deliberately looking for something smaller.”

“All right. The shop’s usually open from elevento seven, Tuesday to Saturday. You can set your own hours, but for the firstthree months you won’t be allowed to tattoo outside of the regular shop hours.Once the three month probation period ends, you’ll get a key to the shop and youcan work outside of regular hours, if need be.”

“Sounds good,” Nix said.

“I charge a chair rental fee, it’s high butfair. Shop rules are pretty simple – no tattooing drunks, people high on drugs,or underage kids.”

“What about tattooing faces and hands?” Nixsaid.

“I try and discourage it, but it isn’toutright banned from the shop,” Preacher said. “I expect high quality tattoos.If you’re consistently fucking up a tattoo, or if you show up drunk or high, I’llkick you out of the shop. It’s a small town and a tattoo shop that has unreliableartists, bad tattoos, or tattoos drunks and underage kids, will be sunk fast.You get what I’m saying?”

“I do,” Nix said. “I’ll follow the rules.”

“We get a lot of walk-ins during thesummer. Enough that I can’t keep up. You good with tattooing walk-ins? Evenwhen they want stupid shit?”

“Yes,” Nix said. “I saw on the websitethat the shop does body piercings. You have someone come in to do that?”

“Nah, I do it,” Preacher said. “I apprenticedin piercing the same time I apprenticed in tattooing. You certified to pierce?”

Nix shook his head. “No.”

“That’s fine. Mostly I get requests for noseand belly button piercings and not enough that I can’t handle it on my own. Yougot any other questions for me?”

---