Debut author Maggy Clifton introduces you to Franklin, a thrice-married hairdresser surviving in New England and his unnamed client who narrates their visits. As they share details of their lives through private conversations to pass the time, both learn from each other as they try to make sense of the absurdities of life.
Inspired by Langston Hughes's Jesse B. Semple newspaper columns published during the 1950s in The Chicago Defender, Clifton present vignettes of genuine, humorous, almost Socratic in nature dialog as Franklin and his client share their opinions and life stories on topics ranging from sex and marriage, the good old days and the loss of manners, to keeping the faith and hope for humanity.