When my grandma came to my house

The only time I saw my mom sweat was when she got a call from her mother. She was drenched in sweat when I asked her what was up. Her eyes quickly met mine as she hadn’t noticed I was there. Her lips quivered as she blurted out,”Grandma is coming to visit”

”Well, that’s great”,I smiled, not knowing what I know now. Maybe my mother had a right to be fearful of grandmother’s arrival.

Mom stressed herself out on the couch and dreaded all the minutes that were ticking by. She even jumped when when the knock on the door came. As she feared, the woman she called mom stood on the threshold.

”Hello, ma’am”,my mother addressed her mom.The older woman looked at her daughter with a smile,”Hello, Maddy”

Mom had no choice but to invite grandmother in. She took off her coat, her shoes, made her comfortable on the couch, and made her a cup of tea. I found it odd why mother was doing all this for her.

Regarding myself, my grandmother did all the stereotypical things. She gave me candy and told me stories all the while mom was drinking tea nervously in a nearby chair. I swear I could’ve heard mom hyperventilating quietly.

After lunch, we were all relaxing in the living room. I was bored so I asked grandma if we could do something together.

”Well”,my grandmother started,”Your mother is getting a bit shaggy these days”

My mom rose quickly from her chair as if she wanted to run out of the house. She turned to leave the room but my grandmother’s voice stopped her in her tracks. Her mother told her to look at her, when she did, my grandmother said,”You thought I wouldn’t cut your hair this visit, eh”

”Please, mommy”,my mother begged,”Not my beautiful hair”

My grandmother was unimpressed with my mom’s theatrics and got up from the couch to hold of her daughter’s ear. As mom winced, grandmother told me to go into the spare room we set aside for her. I did as I was told and saw a box and folded up cape on the bed. Taking it all downstairs, I went into the the kitchen to see my mother in a chair, still vouching for her long, black hair that had in a secure bun.

Grandmother just stood there, stone faced, shaking her head,”No daughter of mine is going to have long hair that falls over her eyes. Stop your crying, you know what will be done and that’s that”

Noticing me, grandma thanked me and took the goods from my hands. Mother watched the box as it was set on the kitchen counter, her eyes never broke contact as her mother wrapped the cape her body. Grandmother secured the cape and opened the box.

I stood nearby to watch what was going to happen. My eyes were as fixed on the clippers as my mother’s were. She tried to escape the scene again but my grandmother caught her before she got out of the kitchen and plopped her back into her seat.

”You run like that again”,grandma said sternly,”And I’ll spank you harder than I did when you were little”

”Please”,was all mom could say. We watched grandma plug in her device, she turned it on and off which made mother whimper. Her mother eyed her once and that silenced her daughter. Grandma came over to the chair and turned the clippers on. The hum made mom shiver as her mother used the blades to cut off her bun at the base. The appendage was dropped to the kitchen floor.

My mom stared at it as her mother ruffled the short hair. Slicking it all back, grandma went up my mom’s right sideburn with the clippers. What they left behind was freshly buzzed scalp with the bristles being shorter than a millimeter. Granny went up my mom’s head and over her scalp, the hair fell quickly into the cape and onto the floor.

She put her hand on her daughter’s buzzed crown and pushed her head down to her chest. Her clippers went up the nape and sheared it down to almost nothing. With it all buzzed off, my grandmother grabbed her daughter’s chin; turning my mother’s head this way and that, she made sure no hair was on her head. My mother thought it was all over but her mother was not done.

From the box, grandma retrieved a tube of shaving cream. She spread it liberally over her daughter’s scalp and massaged it in. Mother watched with tear-stained cheeks as her mother washed her hands and dried them off. Taking a straight razor from the box, my grandmother finished shaving my mom’s head.

When everything was done and cleaned up, my mother sat in her chair with no hair and my grandmother and I stared at her. We stood there for a couple of minutes, my mother broke the silence with a firm,”I hate you!”

She quickly ran out of the room as my grandmother didn’t stop her. I looked at my grandmother for some reason why did what she did but she said nothing to me. Mother didn’t come out of her room til dinner time.

My grandmother was preparing the meals so my mom sat with me. I tried not to but her bald head was so beautiful not to look at. She moped as her mother set out the food. Granny said grace and we ate, we ate in silence mostly. That was until my grandma piped up,”In my opinion, you look more beautiful bald”

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