By Kevin Coughlin
On Sunday, Keisha Smith-Johnson installed the last piece of furniture in the future home of her hair salon, Shear Bliss.
She and her husband James had driven three hours to upstate New York to acquire the piece, and she was looking forward to moving her business from Speedwell Avenue to 15 Pine St., closer to downtown, closer to train station foot traffic, closer to everything.
By Tuesday, her dreams were up in smoke.
A fire ripped through the three-story commercial/residential structure on Pine Street late on Monday, leaving one tenant dead and displacing a handful of others.
As authorities spent Tuesday sifting through the charred house for clues to the fire’s cause, the Johnsons pondered their next move.
They already vacated the Speedwell storefront where Shear Bliss opened nearly a decade ago.
“I feel like I’m in a bad dream right now,” said Keisha, battling a 103-degree fever and trying to look after her son Brice, age 3, and daughter Paige, 5 months, while dealing with the aftermath of the blaze.
“I’m heartbroken that someone died in that fire,” she said in a hoarse whisper. “And I’m heartbroken I’m out of business.”
Pine Street was a dream location for Keisha, who finally grew disenchanted with Speedwell — after years of lobbying for improvements there — when vandals smashed her shop window twice. Disorderly characters were scaring her customers, she said.
The house on Pine Street, by comparison, felt welcoming, from the friendly young tenants to the inviting porch and green grass.
“It was like heaven to me,” Keisha said.
She had anticipated a Grand Re-Opening later this month.
An antique cabinet and many unique Christmas window decorations stored in the Pine Street basement presumably are lost forever now. But such losses are minor in the big picture.
“Life is more precious than those things,” Keisha said.
Already, she has started pounding the pavement in search of a new location, fever-be-damned. Clients and a pair of part-time employees depend on her.
“You gotta be resilient,” Keisha said.
NOTE: The Morris Prosecutor’s Office said on Tuesday afternoon that the investigation is ongoing. The victim’s identity was not released.
