Tolsty
For a week? My grandmother staying… with me… for a week. I could understand a few days at most but a week, it was unbelievable. The memories came flooding back to me when I wrapped up our call.
”Ei Ei!”she called me downstairs; my mother left me for two weeks with this woman. Tall and slender but certainly a little frail, she had full control over me and responsible for my well-being and did she ever deliver.
I knew her intent for calling me down, she planned this and wanted to do this: I couldn’t complain lest she spank me for rebellion. She gazed at me from the bottom of the stairs, her barber’s shirt was clean and neat, a comb neatly inserted into her shirt’s breast pocket,”C’mon girl. I don’t have all day”
” I wish you did”, my childish mind spoke under my breath, she turned to look at me,”Hm? Speak up, young lady”. I was frustrated,” I don’t want to do this!”, I told her; I thought she would slap me for raising my voice but she only came up to me to hug me, kissing the top of my head.
”I know, sweetie”,she lulled,”But your hair’s too long”. I saw where she was coming from, I didn’t agree with her,and agreed to this arrangement on the condition that I didn’t have to do it for the next two visits.
The kitchen was swept and mopped, a lone chair stood as the sun bathed light on it through the window. Grandma took from the chair a cape and placed her hands on my shoulders to fit me into the seat. See, grandma took a styling chair from her work to use on me: it was very comfortable, I will admit.
She flung the cape around my 14ish body and pumped up the chair, with each pump, my body tensed: out of nervousness or anticipation. See, I didn’t hate these haircuts my gran gave me but I also didn’t like change every time I visited her.
I felt the cape tighten around my neck, my grandma began to hum as she ruffled my hair and ran her fingers through it. I asked her what haircut she was planning but she just answered with,”You will see”.
She had a trolley that she wheeled up beside the chair, for it she opened a drawer and took out an elastic band. Her hands gathered up my hair and tied it up with the band. The next thing she did was open drawer and grabbed her clippers: my heart instantly stopped.
When I could finally breathe properly was when that click switched off the device, my long hair had been cut off; it only came down to my chin. She put her hands on my shoulders and asked me if I was alright. Still in shock, I said ye cooly.
Taking my word, she shook my shot hair and played with it for a while. She then used the comb and separated my crown from the back of my head. The clips she put in my hair fell in place snugly and I was set for the next step.
Again, my gran grabbed her clippers and turned them on, as they hummed and buzzed, she tilted my head down a little.With her left palm on top of my clipped hair, she used her right hand to maneuver the clippers up my nape and flicked off its load halfway up.
Again and again, up and up my backside, she finally dusted off my back with her hand; her hands were cold on what was left on the back and when I felt it, I was horrified/amazed at how much she took off. To finish up the back, she used a tiny hair-taker and ran it all over the back.
She blew on the bare skin which I giggled at and that made her smile. My grandmother took out the clips from my hair and comb its length,”Nice, neat, and manageable, not to mention, cool for the summer”, she told me. The clippers came back but only to tidy up the ends so that my hairstyle wasn’t lopsided: at least, that’s all they came out to do.
In truth, my barber used the comb to brush hair in front of my eyes; she took her clippers and hair filtered into the comb’s jaws, she cleanly sliced the hair below the comb off and used the clippers blades to straighten the bangs.
I had a bob with bangs and undercut and my grandmother was proud of her work and me for sporting it.”Don’t you look stylish”, she swept hair off my lap and my shoulders,”Woo! Girl, short and chic, your mother will love it”
”She will?” I asked innocently as she nodded and loosened the cape to dust off my neck.
We went out to dinner that night, people stared at me which I found unwanted and grandma felt my awkwardness. She just kept me calm by giving me a quick compliment and asking me about my home and school life. As I was sipping at my beverage, a young lady and her daughter came to our table.
”Excuse me”,the lady addressed,”I couldn’t help but look at your.. granddaughter’s hairstyle. Where’d she have it done?”
”Ask her”,my grandma put me in the spotlight.
The lady’s undying attention was on me and I sputtered,”Well.. my grandma here cut my here”
”Oh, wow”,her attention went to my grandma but her daughter’s eyes were still on me.”So you cut hair”,the lady commented,”You’re very good at it. You know, my daughter here and I really need a trim”; her daughter instantly turned to her mother,”No, I don’t want my hair cut”
Her mother ignored her,”How about tomorrow, around noon”
My grandmother cupped her napkin in her hands,”Okay, cash or credit?”
The lady chuckled and took her daughter back to their table,”We’ll see you then”
I looked to my gran,”Are you really going to cut that girl’s hair, she seemed opposed to that”
”I won’t force her”,she assured me.
We returned home but I couldn’t stop thinking about what could happen and seeing myself in the girl who was being forced into getting a haircut. She reminded me of myself earlier that day.
My mother wasn’t coming for me tomorrow so I had to watch the show. The lady was punctual, her white car coming up our way and she and her daughter on our steps just one second before noon. My grandmother, in fresh hairdresser attire, answered the doorbell and invited the two ladies in. Clearly, the daughter still held the opinion of not having her hair touched but her mother didn’t care.
”Let’s talk hair”,my grandmother started,”What style would you like? Think it over while I make us tea”
”No need”, the lady replied,”I’ve already know what me and my daughter are getting”
I was nervous to what my grandmother would do, she looked at our guests,”Alright, come back to the chair and I’ll set two up”. The lady nodded and prodded her daughter to the kitchen where the chair was. My grandmother took up the cape,”Who wants to go first?”
The girl’s mother led her to the chair,”She’s going first”, setting her child in the chair. Clearly grandma was uncomfortable but tried to do her best,”Ok, sweetheart. What-“
My grandmother was interrupted by the lady,”Oh, I want her hair short. Shave down the sides, won’t you?”. The girl was shocked at what her mother said but didn’t complain but I knew she wanted protest.
My grandmother wrapped up the girl and got to work, separating and clipping the hair on top to her head. She turned to the mother of this girl,”What guard?”. She said in such a way to convey she did not approve of this arrangement but would do it nevertheless and wouldn’t be happy about it.
”No guard, I want her sides smooth”,the lady put in a snarky tone. The girl began to whimper and wheeze a bit, her mother did not like this; she grabbed the girl’s chin and told her to stop crying or she would have grandma shave her bald. She tried to hold back tears as grandma revved up the clippers and slid them up her sides and, at the lady’s request, shaved them with the razor.
The lady felt up the smooth sides and was very pleased,I was not and neither was grandma. She finished up the cut as the mother dictated, short on top.
Grandma freed the girl from the chair and she instantly walked out of house and sat in the car out front.”She’ll grow to love it”,the lady told grandma,”I believe it’s my turn”
”Very”,grandma wiped the chair clean of hair and the lady sat in it.”I won’t take up much of your time”,the lady started as grandma flipped the cape over her body,”All I want is my hair up to my shoulder, you can handle that”
”Yes, indeed”,grandma tightened up the cape,”But I don’t think we’ll go that route”
”What?”the lady asked,”What are you-“
The barber clamped a hand on her left shoulder,”Let’s clean you up, deary”
Her demeanor frightened the lady, she gulped and knew she messed up. She tried to sway grandma but the barber took up her clippers and pumped up the chair. I could feel the fear on that woman as grandma played with her hair and switched on her device. The lady’s head was pulled back, she watched as the clippers went down her scalp.
The lady was buzzed off and she looked at me for help but I didn’t care so she was stuck as her head was frosted like a cake and had a razor zoom around on her head, leaving her a clean, shaven head. But grandma wasn’t done, she had the lady look up and close her eyes; when she did, the razor removed her brows. Grandma didn’t give her a mirror to look at herself, only touch could tell her how much she lost.
The lady stormed out of the house and brought back in her daughter, who was laughing and crying. She tried to get grandma to shave her but grandma said,”Sorry, we’re closed”
I never saw the girl again, my respect for my elder grew that day.
