A Word a Day

Day Ten: Hair

        "Are you ready, Lily?" Mother called out, flipping the clippers on in a fluid motion, careful to prevent the cord from tangling. At the sound, Lily clung to her blonde pigtails, shaking her head in defiance. They wouldn't do this to her. They wouldn't dare.

        Her mother let out a little sound of exasperation. "Liliana Pocket, we've been over this a thousand times. The chemo will just make it fall out anyway; this way will be a lot quicker and a lot less devastating."

        Lily just shook her head, tears welling. She didn't want to let Mama shave her hair. She was a seven-year-old girl; she didn't want to look like Poppy, who had to be... What? A million?

        "It's not fair," she whined, trying desperately to stall the inevitable. "None of my friends have to do this; it's not fait that I have to." Tears became streaming down her hollow cheeks. "I don't wanna be sick no more," she sobbed.

        Mama's face softened slightly as she looked down at the distraught little girl. "That's why they're treating you, Lily," she told the girl in a hush. "They're trying to make you all betteer so you don't have to do this again."

        "But I don't want to do this at all, Mama! It's not fair!"

        The family stayed quiet for a long while, and Lily was almost convinced that she had gotten her way. She began to wipe away her tears and look up when her cousin spoke up.

        "Cut mine first, Aunt Heather."

        Mama looked up, startled, at the petite brunette making her way over toward the stool Lily was pouting upon. Lily hushed her cries, looking at her cousin quizzically. Surely she heard her wrong, Lily decided to herself. Why would Dani ask to have her head shaved?

        Mama must have been thinking the same thing. "What?" she stuttered in disbelief.

        Dani looked Mama square in the eye, her face unreadable as Lily looked on, pondering the scene. "Cut mine first," she repeated, but slower and clearer this time. She threw a glance over in Lily's general direction and smiled. Lily was too stunned to manage a return smile.

        "Danielle, no. You have beautiful hair. Why would you want me to cut it?" Mama flicked off the clippers, the buzzing dispersing. Lily relaxed a bit; perhaps Dani was merely stalling on her behalf.

        "Lily shouldn't have to go through this alone," Dani said, grinning in the girl's direction. Lily just stared at her. "After all, it would be kind of cool to be bald. I'd get to try on wigs -- maybe I can have curly pink hair. I've always wanted curly pink hair."

        Lily bit her lip, thinking for a moment. She never thought about it that way. Maybe shaving her hair would open up more oppurtunities for fun, games, and shopping. And if Dani did it... Well, then it must be cool.

        Mama seemed to consider for a few moments before looking to Lily. "Will you let me cut your hair if Dani gets hers cut, too?"

        Lily nodded in earnest.

        Mama smiled weakly. "Well, okay then." She tossed an extra pair of clippers over to Lily's Aunt Killian. "Arm yourself, Sister. We've two princesses to make over."

        And when Dani sat down next to Lily and held her little hand, the girl actually smiled, laughing as the blonde and bronde strands mingled on the floor below them, not knowing the capacity of her cousin's selflessness.