Maneland Rejects Chapters 1-2

1. California Hair We Come

Nisha loved her hair. It hung to her calves, black and thick and framed her face quite well.

Brushing it also gave her plenty of joy every day, and its softness comforted her, compensating for her lack of personality. But hey, a lack of any distinct personality didn’t have to stop her from getting up every morning, bunning her luscious mane, and walking down her rather boring city streets to the auditions every day to be the country’s next long-haired sweetheart.

Thank god she lived in a place with so many studios for her to audition in. One of them would have to choose her right?

Right?

Well, if the next charming girl-next-doors could be a woman with super-thick hair bouncing at her waist, Nisha figured her chances should be much better.

Within five minutes she arrived at the rather ornate building, with oakwood pillars lovingly carved to look as if it was molded from human hair. KaliHair Studios had been around for quite some time, but somehow, all of the films showcasing long-haired people (both men and women) were all straight to DVD, with laughably bad quality. Nevertheless, it was worth a shot. If there was any place worth trying to audition, it would definitely be this place.

Nisha daintily pulled open the glass door and walked to the receptionist, who had very long hair herself, braided loosely and lying on the floor, the silver strands standing out against the generic purple carpet.

“Good morning,” the receptionist flatly greeted her, “ welcome to KaliHair Studios-”

“Hi, I’m here to audition-”

“-home to such wonderful films such as Hairy Adventures, Hair-Raiser, Here and Hair-”

“Yes, I know that, could you just tell Mr. Grisholm that I’m-”

“YES, I KNOW THAT! NOW COULD YOU PLEASE TELL MR. GRISHOLM THAT NISHA PATEL IS HERE TO SEE HIM!??!”

The receptionist finally stopped and lazily typed some stuff into a computer before snapping. “Look, I don’t write this shit, okay? Cut me some slack. Now take a fucking seat and wait.”

How rude! Hopefully, the audition itself wouldn’t be as bad as this. The options for where she could audition seemed to be dwindling and dwindling in her mind. Anxiety seemed to over come over her as she quickly removed the hair clip that held her bun in place and brought her tresses to her nose.

Aaaaaah. That wonderfully sweet scent of her shampoo calmed her down. It reminded her how beautiful she was and what her hair meant to her. There was no way she’d fail this audition. At least, not with this sexy mane.

A few minutes later, she was called to a separate room for the audition itself.

2. Hair Again

Nisha quickly styled her hair into a simple bun as she entered the lavishly decorated room. Paintings of long-haired men and women adorned the walls, and sitting on the antique chair in the center of the room sat a short man, dressed in tight fitting pants and shirts with large glasses, a hand-knitted scarf around his neck, and some stubble.

“Nisha, right?”, he asked, not bothering with the formalities.

“Yes, that’s me, Mr. Grisholm.” she replied.

Mr. Grisholm smiled and walked up to her, placing his hand on her rough-hewn face.

“Hmm, not bad.” he complimented her. “Now turn around.”

She complied. Once she finished this he removed the clip and ran his fingers through her hair, meticulously checking its thickness and length.

“Quite good. Now show me what you can do with it.”

Nisha transitioned into her routine where she played some music on her phone and danced to it. She smiled a toothy grin as she headbanged and swished her head left and right. Barely two minutes had passed when Mr. Grisholm asked her to turn off the music and told her his opinion.

“You do know Maneomax Studios literally filmed a whole movie like this a few weeks ago, right? You know, the one where several women are dancing with their hair down.”

“So you don’t think I’m good enough?” Nisha asked, her expectations beginning to falter.

“No, it’s not that. It’s just that super long hair is the new trend now, 10 feet minimum. Your hair may go to your calves, but you’re as much of a rapunzel as a hairless chihuahua.” Mr. Grisholm explained.

“But sir,” Nisha insisted, “I have what it takes to do this. I’ve been auditioning for nearly 3 years. Surely there’s something you can put me-”

Mr. Grisholm gave his final word. “I told you, there is nothing. Okay? Now get out and come back when your hair’s grown.” With this he opened the door as the disappointed girl walked through.