J.lip
It was in those days in which I was growing up that were so crazy, but for my family, it was normal. My mom was a housekeeper for an old, rich man that had a summer home in the valley where I lived. The house was quite far from my house was and mom couldn’t deal with us kids, my sister and my brother and I, all day so she devised a most convoluted plan. She had this sister, aunt Ronda, who ran a small hairdressing shop not too far down the road out of town. My mom would just drop us off with her and pick us up in the evening (when us kids couldn’t go to school).
Now, my aunt Ronda wasn’t thrilled about watching over three kids while she was working. Mom promised to give her sister some money for watching us to which she reluctantly agreed.
Me, my brother, and my sister basically had nothing to do while mom was gone, my aunt then put us to work sweeping the floor of cut hair and trimmings that had been accumulated. She told us she wanted to get her money’s worth and man, did she work us to the bone.
One day, there was little to no traffic coming into my aunt’s shop. Us kids mostly swept the dust off the floor or lounged about on the waiting bench. My aunt was reading a newspaper but when it neared 1 o’ clock, she folded up the newspaper and came to us. Ronda looked at us three, scanning us sharply with her eyes. She pursed her lips in thought and pointed to my brother,”Boy, come on”, she gestured for him to follow her.
My brother was confused as my aunt went to the styling chair and turned it around so its seat would face us.
“Come on, let’s go”, Ronda was impatient.
My brother looked at my sister and I before cautiously getting up from the couch and making his way towards the chair. Nervously taking his seat, my aunt spun the chair back to face the mirror. She took from a roll nearby some Barber’s paper and tied it around her nephew’s neck. She then found and draped a cape over the boy’s body, fastening it behind his neck. When she had him prepped, she stroked his dirty blonde hair and went to grab the clippers to that was ahead of the mirror in its holster.
My sister and I looked on as she smoothed back my brother’s hairline and switched on her device. We watched as she mowed a stripe down his scalp (from crown to nape). Over and over again, my aunt Ronda cleared the hair off my brother’s head. The floor and cape were filling up with the cut hair, which was completely disposed of when she was done. When she was done, my brother’s head was practically bald. He didn’t say a word as aunt Ronda released him from the chair or when he sat back on the couch.
Me and sis looked at him with wide eyes, secretly wanting to touch his stubbly head.
”You, girly”,my aunt pointed to my sister,”Let’s go”
My sister’s head whirled around and her eyes widened, her hands instinctively grabbed her chestnut hair that fell below her shoulders. Her hesitation was not a good look for my aunt gave her an annoyed look. Nothing my sister could say would deter Ronda from continuing her work so my sister somberly walked over to the styling chair.
Taking a seat, my sister had her hair gathered up and pinned to the top of her head. Paper and cape fastened around her niece’s neck, my aunt let the hair fall down to its length. She took up the clippers and combed through my sister’s hair. With it all out of her eyes, my sister watched as the clippers ran through her scalp, leaving its path stubbly bare. My sister didn’t cry or even tear up but I could tell she was crushed by the loss of her chestnut locks.
When it was all done, my sister was as bald as my brother: she could, at least, take solace in that.
