Chapter 1 - YOU MADE US LATE
Emma Bennett was six years old when Linda decided her hair had become a problem.
Not medically.
Not hygienically.
A timing problem.
Emma had long brown hair nearly to the middle of her back. She loved it because Rachel, her mother, braided it before school and let her choose ribbons on Fridays.
Linda called it impractical.
That Saturday morning, Rachel was at work.
Michael had dropped Emma at his mother’s house because he said he had errands.
Emma was supposed to attend a family brunch with Linda.
She took too long brushing tangles from her hair.
Linda looked at the clock.
Then at Emma.
Then dragged a folding chair into the garage.
“Sit.”
Emma shook her head.
“I’m almost done.”
Linda grabbed a fistful of her hair.
The electric clippers switched on.
Emma screamed.
“STOP! PLEASE!”
Linda drove the clippers through one side.
A thick section fell onto the concrete.
Emma twisted away.
Linda forced her back toward the chair.
“YOU MADE US LATE.”
More hair fell.
Emma sobbed and covered her head.
Linda pulled her hands away.
“Stop fighting.”
The second pass left another uneven strip.
Emma cried harder.
Linda yanked the towel off her shoulders and looked at the damage.
Then shrugged.
“Now you’ll be faster.”
When Rachel arrived two hours later, Emma was curled beneath a blanket on Linda’s sofa.
Hair chopped unevenly around her ears.
Eyes swollen.
Rachel rushed to her.
“What happened?”
Emma collapsed into her arms.
Michael stood by the kitchen doorway.
He looked irritated.
Not shocked.
Rachel turned.
“What did your mother do?”
Michael answered:
“Hair grows back.”
Rachel stared at him.
Then Emma whispered:
May you like
“Daddy knew.”
That sentence changed the room.
