RELUCTANT PRESS

"Now you just sit back down there and let me put this in your hair or you can forget about ever coming over here again. Understood?"

What could I do? Susie had me wrapped around her little finger and could make me jump through hoops if she wanted to. So I did relax. After all, it was not the first time that I had curlers in my hair. Susie continued combing section after section and winding each on a roller and securing it snugly against my scalp with two metal clips. After about twenty minutes, my whole head was covered with neat rows of rollers. She draped a pink triangle hair net over the rollers and pulled it tight at the three corners and tied them at the back of my neck. Seeing myself in the mirror I wondered why I allowed her to humiliate me like this?

If it had just been Susie that was home, I suppose that I could have enjoyed her little game, whatever it might be. Her mother's presence, however, made me feel rather strange even though she seemed to be enjoying the whole thing as much as Susie was. The bonnet of the dryer was placed over my head and drawn tight. I felt the plastic inflate as the rush of hot air flowed through the hose and pretty soon my whole head was being baked. It was certainly not as comfortable as the professional dryers at my mother's salon and far less efficient, as evidenced by the forty-five minutes it took to get me dry. But the time was not wasted. Susie filed and buffed my nails and took a bottle of red polish and shook it before removing the tiny brush.

"All right Susie! This has gone far enough!" I said, pulling my hands back like a child about to be spanked.

If Susie wanted to play with my hair, that was fine, since it would readily wash out afterward. But nail polish was more permanent.

"Give me your hands, Danny," Susie shouted, partly to be heard above the dryer. However, her tone was stern and she did not seem to be playing as she took hold of my wrist and pulled my hand toward her.

"Susie please! Now we won't be able to go out, like you said."

"Oh yes we will, and I guarantee that nobody will say anything. It's hard to be heard over the dryer so just sit back and let me concentrate."

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RUFFLES & CURLES

By Kammi Morton

Susie put a layer of polish on my thumb and said something to her mother. Mrs. Wales came over and looked at the polish and picked out another color which Susie applied to my index finger. They both looked at my hand and decided that the second color, a pale pink, was the one to use. Susie removed the red polish and proceeded to do all my fingers in the same lighter color. When she was done she told me to put my feet up in her lap and when I did the robe opened. I instinctively reached to close it when Susie screamed,

"NO! NO! You'll ruin your nails! Just wait a minute until I finish this nail and I'll fix it for you."

It seemed to take an eternity for her to finish the nail on my big toe while all the time the robe was slipping open more and more until I knew that I was fully exposed. Finally, she put the brush down and reached over and pulled the robe together and tied the belt tighter. It was a gesture that was both intimate and humiliating at the same time.

At last she finished my toenails, but she went back to my fingernails and applied a second coat and did the same with my toes. By this time, I was starting to relax, just a little, from Susie's ministrations and the soothing warmth of the hair dryer.

"Mother, come see!" I heard Susie shout to her mother, who was in the next room.

"Very nice, Susie. What do you think, Danny?"

Fine time to ask me what I thought, seeing that the damage was done.

"It's nice," I muttered.

"What? I can't hear you!" said Mrs. Wales.

"It's very nice," I said, louder.

"Did you say 'thank you' to Susie?"

"Ah, thank you Susie," I replied obediently, feeling a little concerned about how that conversation had gone.

"Susie, looks like you have some more work to do."

I barely heard Mrs. Wales say as she ran her hand down my leg.

"Oh, you're right mother, I didn't think of that," said Susie as she too ran her hand up and down my leg. Susie left and soon returned with a can of shaving foam and a ra-

zor. And it dawned on me what was on her mind. "Susie, no! You can't shave my legs. Please!"

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