I love to go see my Grandma. All my younger years were spent in her house. To eat her goodies she made just for me and to hear her stories is always a treat. She always looked forward to seeing me and every time I came she would always feed me.
As she was making dinner for the two of us, my mischievous mind made me snoop in her bedroom for anything I could find. I found a box underneath her bed. My dastardly nature opened the box and inside was photos of her and grandpa. A photo of them at the Grand Canyon, a photo of one of their date nights, and a photo of… I almost screamed as I saw the photo. Quickly, I stuffed the photo in my pocket and headed to the dining room to eat.
Grandma said grace and we ate. She told stories and I told jokes. My jokes almost made the woman choke on her water. But the photo with its untold story racked my brain.
”Hey gram”
”Yes?”
”I need your help on this”,I produced the photo from my pocket and set it on the table. Her eyes widened as I feared she might erupt on me.
”Well, someone’s been snooping around in my room”,she called me out.
”I’m sorry, gram”,I apologized,”I won’t do it again”
”Well”,she sighed,”I suppose you want to know the story behind it”
”Yes”,I whispered meekly.
It was a story for the ages. The year was 1956 in Sawyer county, Missouri. My grandmother had just turned eighteen and her mother was pestering the young lady to get married and sooner rather then later.
”You’re practically going to be in your thirties next year”,her mother said,”And you’ll have no man and won’t be able to have children. You got to get on this pronto, Ruth”
”I know I know!”Ruth was overwhelmed and left the house as a result. She began walking and did not stop until she reached the edge of town. She hated her mother, always being controlling and not letting her be herself. Ruth wanted to hurt her mother. When she scratched her blonde hair for ideas, she instantly knew what to do.
She saw a barbershop near by and walked briskly over to it. The place was definitely for men and not for women but Ruth did not car. Inside, a lone young man stood in wait for the next customer. He was not expecting a thing like Ruth to walk through his door.
Immediately, Ruth came and sat in the only barber chair and looked at the surprised young man. She asked,”What’s the manliest haircut you have sir?”
The young barber cleared his throat and said,”Well, ma’am. The popular cut here is the butch haircut. It’s definitely manly”
”That’s perfect”,Ruth smiled and was ecstatic,”I’ll have one of those, please”
Confused by but okay with it, the young man threw a striped cape over his young lady. He secured the cape and grabbed the clippers from off their hook and switched them on.
”Ever had a butch before?”the young man asked as he began to clip away the lady’s blonde tresses.
”Obviously not”,Ruth replied curtly,”Barely a bob when I was younger. My mother always did my hair and loathed the idea of cutting any of it off”
”I take it your mother doesn’t know you’re here, with me”,the barber maneuvered round the chair.
”She can go to hell for all I care”,Ruth said with resentment,”Hey, you want to get married?”
”What?”the young man blushed,”To who?”
”To me, silly”,Ruth replied with a smile,”After this, of course”
”Why, sure. Yeah, let’s get married”,the barber finished on the sides of Ruth’s head and started flattening her top,”Do you want to get married in a church or…?”
”I would be delighted to marry you anywhere, at any hour”,Ruth blushed herself as she watched her man comb up the hair on her crown and glide the clippers over the excess.
”Well, it’ll sure be a good while before you can walk down the aisle”,the man switched off the clippers,”But for now, what do you think?”
Ruth felt up the sides of her stubbly head and over the erect lawn of blonde of the top of her head,”I love it”
At that moment, a man with a camera came inside the shop and was stunned at what he saw,”Uh, Rick…”
”Oh, Charlie”,Rick turned the chair so that Ruth could see Charlie,”This is Ruth and me and her are going to get married”
As to preserve the moment, Charlie readied his camera and took a picture of my grandma Ruth and my Grandpa Rick. I looked at the photo. My grandma smiling sweetly from the chair with the cape still around her and my grandfather as a young man standing proudly beside his wife.