The hair beneath her fingers was incredibly soft and baby fine. She pulled the comb through the silvery white strands, carefully working out knots, taking care not to yank or press too hard on a scalp made tender by age.The powder of the dry shampoo she'd used was worked out as she combed, leaving a dingy snowfall on the bright pink towel she'd draped over thin shoulders.
As she worked, she hummed an old hymn under her breath, sparking a rare flash of memory.
"You gonna sing in church on Sunday, Grace?" the shaky voice asked, pale blue eyes meeting hers in the mirror.
Her name wasn't Grace - that name belonged to the woman's daughter, gone almost fifteen years now - but she smiled and nodded anyway, and kept humming.
Strands of hair were worked over soft foam curlers. Hard plastic would have worked better, but they left bruises on a scalp that was easily damaged and long to heal.
The conversational dam had been breached; words flowed freely, if not always coherently. The nurse in the corner had told her that the woman was silent every other day of the week, so she enjoyed the sound of the light voice even if she couldn't always understand what was being said.
When the timer dinged, she rose to remove the curlers and comb out the waves into a style the woman had favored over sixty years ago.
"Am I beautiful now?" the woman asked, peering into the mirror.
This post is my response to a prompt from Write On Edge to write about hair. This is a fictional story - coming off 30 days of fast and furious writing for NaNoWriMo, it was nice to settle back into the stricter craft of a short story!
Thanks for stopping by...and please let me know what you think in the comments!
Awww that was beautiful!!!
ReplyDeleteYou write a lovely and vivid scene. Beautiful.
ReplyDeleteAhhh, very nice. You do a great job of recreating the scene - I can feel the tenderness running all the way through.
ReplyDeleteThat was beautiful and tender moment.
ReplyDeleteAw, so beautiful.
ReplyDeleteI'm also fascinated by your 'dry shampoo', never heard of the stuff and must investigate!
:)
Nerdy, Amber, and Jackie - thank you!
ReplyDeleteIdiosyncraticeye - it's an absorbent powder, used most often in nursing homes where leaning someone back over a sink would be a very bad idea. Used to smell vaguely of petroleum, but they've improved it. I recently saw a TV ad for a spray by a big shampoo company (Vidal Sassoon maybe?), that is effectively the same thing. It absorbs oils (and the dirt trapped there).
Beautifully tender and telling. I particularly enjoyed how the granddaughter simply allowed her grandmother to speak and feel comfortable in her memories.
ReplyDeleteso sweet. It's sad when our loved ones aged. She's lucky to have such a loving grand daughter
ReplyDeleteThis is absolutely lovely and very much reminds me of my own Nana. Well done!
ReplyDeleteAlso, congrats on NaNoWriMo!!!
ReplyDeleteAw, this is so sweet. Makes me think of my Grandma. This is beautiful and sensitive; I like it!
ReplyDeleteAwesome. Beautifully put together.
ReplyDeleteCongrats on NANOWRIMO woohoo
This brought back memories of my great grandmother. Her hair was longer than she was tall; she wore it on a bun on top of her head, and sometimes she let me brush it.
ReplyDeleteThis was very sweetly written!
This is stunning in emotion, detail, and craft. I love the descriptions and the portrayal of their relationship- so very loving within the care-taking.
ReplyDeleteI love the way you've woven so much story into the cleaning, brushing, and curling of her hair. It's a fantastic example of using the prompt in addition to being tender and beautifully written.
ReplyDelete