"Oh no, how did she talk you into that!" she laughed.

I explained my attempted reasoning to her.

"Well, if you have to pay the piper too, sit down and we'll amputate your tresses." she said, steering me to the vanity chair. "Watch how much fun it is now Chrissy!"

The horrible grinding sound of the scissors biting into the first of my curls almost drove me to tears, but somehow I sat there as my hair softly fell to the floor around me. I'm sure that she was trying to make Chrissie happy, as my hair was cut almost to the stubble of a pixie again.

"Now, Chrissy, it's your turn."

We sat her up there on the chair and soon her waist length green tresses joined mine on the floor. Hers unfortunately had to be cut even shorter than mine, but the sight of me in the mirror, with Julia gaily running her hands through my now so short tresses kept her smiling while the operation was performed.

"O.K. Chrissy, all done. Happy now?"

"Oh Mommy, my head feels light. Now it's your turn, Mommy!"

"Yesss, Mommy, it sure is!" I added gaily, cheering her on.

"Oh, no, I couldn't! No ... no!"

"But why not, Alicia and I had a hair cut, and you said how pretty it was. Don't you want to be pretty too?”

Shaking her head, and shrugging her shoulders in defeat, she let Chrissy lead her to the place of honor, in front of the vanity mirror.

"Goodbye curls, I guess. . . please don't cut it too short, Alicia!"

“Oh, I think that Chrissy should have a turn at cutting too!” I said, mischievously.

"No!!!" She started to get up when I pushed her firmly but gently down onto the chair. Her hair was piled high, in curls on her head, held by a light blue ribbon. Without unpinning her hair, I began to remove her

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