\u201cMomma, I\u2019m sorry, I just can\u2019t do my hair as good as you can,\u201d I say meekly. I\u2019m met with a sigh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cFine. Grab a stool to sit on and bring it to the bathroom. I\u2019m going to be late again, though.\u201d I fetch the stool from the other room, but I can feel frustration through the wall. I return and sit down with my mother standing behind me. I stare at her in the mirror. Her brown hair comes down just past her ears; I can tell she straightened it by the way it curves inward and hides the corners of her eyes. I think she is the most beautiful person in the world. She\u2019s started spraying my dark curls with water, but she misses and squirts me in the eye.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cCassidy, sit still,\u201d she says sternly as I jerk away out of reflex. She\u2019s just upset because she\u2019s running behind schedule. I can tell she feels bad when her face begins to soften.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou have gorgeous hair. Never straighten it; it\u2019ll never be the same. It gets damaged and thin,\u201d she warns. We have this conversation every morning. Normally, I give a small nod and continue to stare off into the distance, but today I break routine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhy did you straighten your hair, Momma?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMy mom straightened my hair every day when I was younger. That\u2019s just how I learned to do my hair. You\u2019re lucky I\u2019ve learned to do yours\u201d. She starts brushing my hair. \u201cI\u2019d do anything to have the hair you\u2019ve got\u201d. She\u2019s brushing a lot harder now, almost yanking the brush through my hair. Some days she does this, and gets mad about my hair; those are the times I wish I could just straighten it, as if that wouldn\u2019t make everything worse. Before she was my mom, she was Eris, a woman with gorgeous, flowy hair who never showed up late to work. Now she\u2019s \u201cMomma\u201d, now she gets compliments on her daughter\u2019s hair whenever we\u2019re out together. I swear sometimes she tries to fall behind so it looks like we don\u2019t know each other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWas I worth it, Momma?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt depends on how much trouble I get in for being late today,\u201d she teases as she puts away my hair products. My scalp still hurts. \u201cYou know I love you, right Cass?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYeah, I know. I love you\u201d. She leaves the bathroom, puts on her blazer, and leaves to go to work. I look at myself in the mirror, still sitting on the stool. My thin frame looks even smaller with my hair teased like this. I try to smooth out my hair and fix what I can while it\u2019s still damp. Otherwise it dries a frizzy mess.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"template":"","meta":[],"genre":[27,26],"year":[44],"class_list":["post-124","writing","type-writing","status-publish","hentry","genre-fiction","genre-writing","year-44"],"acf":{"contributor":"Phebe Bridges","bio":"Phebe Bridges has been writing for years and is excited to have her work included in Tidepools.","text":"","contributor_page":null},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dekonstruktr.com\/tidepools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/writing\/124","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dekonstruktr.com\/tidepools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/writing"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dekonstruktr.com\/tidepools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/writing"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dekonstruktr.com\/tidepools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=124"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"genre","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dekonstruktr.com\/tidepools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/genre?post=124"},{"taxonomy":"year","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dekonstruktr.com\/tidepools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/year?post=124"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}