Thursday, January 14, 2010

First

Kindergarten. I had long, shiny hair. Which Mom had cut into a short, stylish shag - no doubt after too much twisted end-chewing, or on
e too many pieces of gum being cut out of it. Short = practical. And Mom only had so much time in the
morning - with four kids, a job, no spouse.

I can recall sitting on the bench seat of the
fam
ily car, post-cut. We had gone to a 'real' hair cutting place. A beauty school, with rows of chairs.

Driving home, in our olive green (metallic brown?) Buick - just before the station wagon - I scootched across the brown pleather bench seat to the middle, to see my reflection in the rear-view mirror. I couldn't quite reconcile that She... was me.

Time has not adjusted that first impression. Pictures (and family movies) prove: it was awful.

On the day I came to school with new hair, the boy (Mike Rhodes! I remember, I remember!) wouldn't talk to me.

The last two to be picked up, every day, I approached Mike Rhodes (I think of the name like "Charlie Brown -" always to be said as one) on the stairs after school, where we waited for our (working) mothers.

"Remember me? You said I was your girlfriend!" (A word it took great courage to speak out loud.)

With visible distaste, and incredulity, he replied.. "What? I don''t even know you. MY girlfriend has LONG HAIR. You look like a BOY." And, if memory is correct, he then moved to a different stair.

And the moral, of course (since cautionary tales have those) is: Say nice things. People remember the mean stuff.



5 comments:

  1. I don't know why you Sabonis- women periodically shear your hair off and then let it grow back (all of you). It’s probably beyond all of us, your mates. We’re the boyfriends who don’t shift to another stair, regardless. Feel better, kiddo.

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  2. Argh! Too funny! I had a shag cut, too, in kindergarten. I think I like your version of my life better than mine.

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  3. I had the short cut. I was mistaken for a boy. I did not like it.

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  4. Or don't cut your hair! I had a pageboy for years cause it was all my mom could manage!

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  5. 精彩的文章是我停留的理由=The splendid article is a reason which I pause

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