Senior awareness

“I can’t believe I have to do this”,Emily grunted as she trudged up the steps of the nursing home. She dilly-dallied her three years of high school and now had to make up her community service hours.

The nurse at the front desk was thrilled to see the young brunette girl wanting to serve the elderly persons there but Emily didn’t feel likewise. Taking the girl back, the nurse introduced Emily to the whole gang. They eyed Emily with curiosity and smiled warmly as their guest reluctantly served them tea and cookies.

It was coming to the end of a day of the 80 hours of community service that Emily had to complete. For a final task, Emily was given a pile of sheets and was told to bring them to Ms. Wilson’s room. Begrudgingly, the girl started down the corridors of rooms until she reached the old lady’s room.

”Ms. Wilson”,Emily called out, entering the room,”I brought you new sheets”

The old woman seemed to be sleeping in a chair near the window. Ms. Wilson gave a snort and opened her eyes. When they focused on Emily, the woman said,”Ah, thank you sonny. Say, when’s the last time you’ve gotten a haircut?”

”Uh, what?”Emily looked about herself,”I’m a girl”

”No matter”,Ms. Wilson rose from her chair and came over to where Emily was to close the door and take the girl’s arm,”I’ll cut your hair for ya. No charge”

”I’m a girl!”Emily protested as the crone pulled the chair towards the center of the room and sat a increasingly impatient Emily in.

”That’s enough”,Ms. Wilson took a sheet from Emily’s pile and flapped it across the girl’s body,”Back in my day, boys your age would get severely punished if they didn’t get their hair cut regularly. And besides, you’re in good hands. I’ve been cutting hair for forty years”

‘I don’t care if you cut for fifties’,Emily said in head as she cried for help but no one came. Ms. Wilson pulled on one of Emily’s ears, which made the girl wince, to make the girl cry out in pain for causing the disturbance.

”That’s enough of that”,Ms. Wilson scolded the child,”Maybe I should just shave you down like the other bad boys”

Emily frantically shook her head, making her tormentor smile and nod,”Good. Now, let me find my tools”

From underneath her bed, Ms. Wilson took out a bag. It was black and looked heavy. Opening it up, the woman took out a comb and clippers. Emily almost jumped as the elderly lady plugged in the device and revved it up. Her heart started pounding like a heavy metal drum as Ms. Wilson lifted up her hair with the comb and basically removed the brunette bulk from her head.

Her hair became shorter and shorter like a clipped mop. The barber lady started to scale up the backside of Emily’s head and up the sides too, leaving the areas absolutely hairless. With the top, she started to lift up and mow flat like a well-maintained lawn. Soon, the clippers took off less and fewer hairs. And when the clippers were finally switched off, Emily was left with a very short, flattop haircut.

“There we are, all done”,Ms. Wilson ran her skeletal fingers up the bare backside of Emily’s head,”Now, this is a proper boy’s haircut. Much better”

Emily just sat and stared at the ground which was covered completely with her shorn hair. Taking the sheet off of the girl’s body, Ms. Wilson went over to her bedside table and picked up a small camera.

”Smile for me, deary”,the woman laughed a little.

Emily forced a smile and the old lady took a photo of a girl with a butch haircut. At that moment, a nurse knocked and came into the room. She looked at Ms. Wilson then at Emily, shrugged and sighed, and said,”She did it again”

After Emily had left, Ms. Wilson took the photo of the girl with her flattop and added it to the scrapbook. Along with Emily’s, pictures of girls with flattops of likewise boys’ haircuts filled up the pages.

”So many handsome boys”,Ms. Wilson smiled to herself,”And all of them desperately needed a trim”

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