RELUCTANT PRESS

body to smooth the silky fabric. Susie sat back down at her vanity to do her make-up, something that I was not yet very good at, (yet!), so I busied myself making her bed and tidying the room. At Susie's signal, I stood behind her to remove the net and rollers. Despite all the times I had done this, I still loved watching the springy coils of hair as they bounced against her head when the pins and curler was removed. I always waited a few seconds to fawn over the head of curls before beginning the brush out. I brushed vigorously, watching as the coils disappeared and the hair shone in long loose

waves.

"Do you think you could put it up in a fancy style?" Susie asked.

"Sure," I replied confidently. Though I had never done an up-do before, I had watched my mother on numerous occasions as I stood beside her and handed her the pins. For the next half hour I brushed, pinned, and arranged her hair until I was satisfied with the result.

Susie continued to read, seemingly indifferent to my maiden venture.

"Well, what do you think?" I asked.

Susie put her book down and looked in the mirror. The look on her face was instant affirmation of my achievement. "Dannielle, it's beautiful!"

I held up a hand mirror so she could see the back. I had arranged the hair in a French twist and on top had formed big curls in a circle around the crown. Her bangs swept across her forehead in a smooth wave. I was especially proud that not a single bobbie pin was visible. Seeing that the results were satisfactory, I sprayed her hair heavily to keep it in place.

Fortunately, Susie could step into her dress, avoiding the problem of getting it over her head and damaging my masterpiece. I buttoned the back and, like a fussy mother, pulled and tucked all around to make sure everything looked just right. I knelt on the floor and slipped her high heels on her feet. Yes indeed, she was beautiful and I did take some pride in my contributions.

Susie barely had time to show herself off to her mother before the doorbell rang.

"Get that, would you, Danielle," Mrs. Wales ordered.

RUFFLES & CURLES

By Kammi Morton

I certainly did not want to be the one to open the door for Susie's date, but I did as I was told. Of course, I recognized him but fortunately he did not show any signs of knowing who I was.

"Hi, Roger. This is my mother, Mrs. Wales, and this is my friend Danielle. She did my hair tonight. Isn't it lovely?" Susie asked, turning around so he could see it all.

"Yeah, nice," was all the unappreciative clod said. I could have kicked him in the balls for not showing more enthusiasm for all that I had done. Oh well, he was just a boy! With no lack of jealousy, I watched Susie put her arm through his and walk down to his car.

As they drove away, the delivery man arrived with the pizza and Mrs. Wales and I ate together with just some light conversation about my day.

"Ready Danny?" I remembered that I had been volunteered to do her hair too. I shampooed her in the kitchen sink, giving her an extra long massage, as I always did when she came to the salon. After the final rinse I squeezed out the water and draped a towel around her head. "My rollers and things are in my bathroom closet," she told me with the implied order for me to go get them.

I located everything I would need and returned to find Mrs. Wales sitting at the kitchen table. I took off the wet towel and placed a dry one around her shoulders and went to work. As soon as I began to comb her hair, I felt her hand rubbing my leg behind my knee.

"Are you going to make Mommy happy tonight?" she asked.

"Yes, Mommy," I answered, eager to get on with the task at hand, knowing that better things were waiting when I finished. As I continued combing and sectioning the hair, her hand moved slowly upward, now caressing my nylon covered thigh. Though I had never done "Mommy's" hair before, I was quite familiar with the setting pattern and size curlers to use. She liked a bouffant pageboy so I went about rolling all her hair under and back on medium sized pink plastic rollers. When I started with the first one, I felt her hand on the exposed skin between the top of my stockings and the girdle. I jumped.

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