So if I let my hair grow can I still call myself ‘Baldilocks?’ I’ve got a TWA* growing and I like it. (My Dad will be happy. He’s always hated my shaved pate.)
Drawback: there are a lot more grays up there than there were the last time I let my hair grow. Such is old bagdom.
Last August, I called up one of my sisters on her birthday. She had turned thirty-four. Though I’m the eldest, I greeted her with a hearty “Hey, ya old bag!”
Sis (laughs; then gently): “Well…you’re older…”
Me: “You mean I’m baggier.”
*****
Some years ago, after a breakfast outing with my mom and my great aunt, we were walking out of the restaurant as an old man and his wife were walking in. Suddenly I heard him say, “excuse me, excuse me!” It turned out that he was talking to me. He pointed his finger at me and said:
“I just want to tell you that what you’re doing to your hair is a sin. It’s in the Bible.”
Before I could reply, my mother and my aunt tried to get me to walk away and leave it alone. For some reason, they thought that I was going to flip out and swear at the man, though I had never acted that way before. Perhaps they thought that a good cussing-out was what he deserved. Perhaps the look on my face—probably pure fury--made them misread my intention. However, I finally got them both to be quiet so I could say what was on my mind.
I stepped to him and pointed my finger back at him:
“It’s people like you--who don’t know what they’re talking about—that drive others away from God, the Bible and the church. And I’m willing to bet that God will not forget.”
Perhaps I cursed him after all.
*TWA=Teeny Weeny Afro
