She stood in front of the mirror with kitchen scissors in one hand and a ribbon-tied bundle of hair in the other. Her hair was hacked to her shoulders, crooked and jagged, and her chin was shaking.
I stared at the floor first, then at her. “Letty… what did you do?”
She lifted her shoulders like she was bracing for impact. “Don’t be mad.”
“Letty… what did you do?”
“I’m trying very hard to start somewhere before mad.”
That got the tiniest breath out of her, but her eyes filled anyway.
“There’s a girl in my class named Millie,” she said. “She’s in remission, but her hair still hasn’t grown back right. Today the boys laughed at her in science. She cried in the bathroom, Mom. I heard her.”
Letty held up the ribboned hair. “I looked it up. Real hair can go into wigs. And mine won’t be enough by itself, but maybe it can help.”
“Baby…”
“I know it looks awful.”
“She cried in the bathroom, Mom. I heard her.”
“Like you fought hedge clippers and barely won,” I said.
She laughed once, then wiped her face with the heel of her hand. “Was it stupid?”
Jonathan had lost his hair in clumps on a pillowcase. Letty had never forgotten it. Neither had I.
I crossed the room, took the scissors from her, and pulled her into honte my arms. “No,” I whispered. “No, sweetheart. Your dad would be so proud of you. I know I am.”
She cried against my shoulder for a little while, then leaned back. “Can we fix my hair? I look like a founding father.”
Letty had never forgotten it.
