Marie tightly shut her eyes when she saw Mama start to pick at the estrange hairs wrapped around the bristles of the comb. 

“Calm down, girl,” said Mama. “I haven’t even touched you yet.”

The word yet pierced through her skin like a blade, bleeding out reluctant anticipation. 

Yet, yet, yet. 

Marie felt as if she was riding slowly to the top of a roller coaster, just way less thrilling. But it was the same, familiar feeling of her heart trying to pry itself out, combined with fear swallowing her like a heavy blanket, causing sweat to form in her armpits.

After ten minutes or so of her listening to the ripping sounds, she heard a sigh and one last rip. 

“Whew!” said Mama, as she put her hands on her lower back to crack it. “Finally, it’s time to do your hair.”

Marie’s eyes shot back open but then went back close due to the blaring sunlight from the windows that glared in her eyes. She decided to keep it close again, this time, clenching it tighter than before, bracing for the ride down the roller-coaster. 

She felt her mama’s hands move under her armpits and scoot her more against her crotch as her big-boned thighs act as stone bars that locked her in. Long fingers wedge themselves between her locks, twisting and pulling and twisting and pulling as if she is fishing for something that she cannot find. A sharp pain would arise every few seconds, and she'd tense up and whimper like a sick dog. 

“Ow,ow,ow,ow!” Marie's eyes started to water, and she lunged forward to attempt an escape from Mama's grasp, but the thick hair seemed to wrap even more tightly around her fingers, causing even more sharp pains.

Mama let out an exasperated sigh and peered her eyes towards the wild unfinished hair of her daughter.

"You think this is fun for me?" asked Mama. "My back is killing me when you pull forward and forward.

“I mean…" Marie couldn’t think of anything to say.

There was a brief pause. The only thing that could be heard was the soft sounds of Mama’s breath, and the leaves of the near trees slapping against the window. Marie enjoyed her hair being untouched, taking this moment all in, like it was her last day. Maybe she could ask Mama to wait until tomorrow, maybe even next week until she was ready.

You’ll never be ready, Marie thought.

Bitterly, she took an ax and chopped down every excuse that seemed to be a branch of a tall, shriveled tree. She sighed and looked at Mama. The best thing she could do, she thought, was to suck it up.

“Okay, fine. You can start, I guess.” She scooched closer to Mama to show that oblige.

“Really?” asked Mama as she slowly straightens her back towards her. “You not going to do that little dance you always do.”

“Dance?”

“You know what I mean.” Marie noticed the humor in her voice. “When you go forward and back. That little boogie.”

Marie unhinged herself a little. “Glad you find my pain funny, Mama.” She smiled when she felt the rumbles of laughter deep beneath Mama’s stomach.

Marie then felt Mama’s lips up against her right ear and listened to the sounds of her ragged breath.

“I promise I won’t hurt you, baby.” Mama took her chin and turned it towards her. “Okay?”

Marie nodded her head and felt herself tense up again. She decided to focus on the adjacent window and stared at the fat bellied clouds taking over the sky. 

She felt fingers again on her head, teasing her coils to remove the tangles, to make the process of brushing her hair easy. Although it did give jolts of pain every once and a while, Marie just held her breath and kept her eyes set at the window. She then felt a whole hand wrapped around a clump of hair, leaving the ends of it to be brushed rapidly. She heard the brush scrape against the velvet couch, and a rubber band was tied around the newly untangled hair. This process of brushing the ends of the hair and tying it up was easy for Marie to manage since the bristles did not touch her scalp, so it was a muted kind of pain. When her hair was finally separated by hair bands, Mama can shape her hair. 

"Do you want a diamond or a heart shape?” She asked as she began to unravel one of the hair bands.

“Diamond,” said Marie.

Mama took the black rat-tail comb and used the tip of its end to carve a diamond around the bushes of hair. 

Ow! Maire thought to herself when the end of the comb had to be dragged out due to a hair strand braiding itself around it.

Mama noticed her flinched. “Sorry, girl. We’re almost done, okay?” 

“Okay,” Marie said, her shoulders relaxing a little.

This began another process of unraveling the hair bands, then carving the diamond, and lastly, her mama braiding the clump of hair.

Marie, who kept her eyes on the window, noticed a tree stood tallest amongst the others. She wondered if it was the same tree stump that she caught sight of when she was five. t held the essence of blunt magnification by its broad branches, seemingly brushing against the clouds, and its vibrant green leaves complimenting the blue sky.

“I’m done,” Mama sang, spraying hairspray on her head.

Marie was about to let go of the breath she held in, but she seemingly realized she exhaled a while ago. In fact, she felt at ease.

“Can I see it?” asked Marie, turning her head towards Mama’s proud eyes.

Mama nodded her head and let Marie pass-through by putting her legs on top of the couch. Marie back ached when she was slowly walking to the bathroom, but she managed to reach it. She turned the rustic metal doorknob and entered the small rectangular room.

"Hmm.” She gazed at herself, taking in the new look. 

Mama put six braided ponytails that were trapped in a diamond shape. The shiny braids appeared to be in a hook-like form and were held together by purple or pink beads. 

Marie smiled a smile of gratitude and struck a pose at the circular mirror that had embedded glimmering diamonds around it.

“How do you like it?” Mama yelled, asking from the tv room.

“Thank you, Mama!” Marie yelled back and went out the mahogany door to go where Mama was. 

“Hey- " Mama was immediately cut off into a hug by Marie, who rested her chin against her shoulder.

Mama laughed. “You and your personality always changing up on me.” 

Marie grinned and stared at the same window in front of her.

The sky turned into an ablaze orange, and its light reflected off the tallest tree, whose leaves danced with the wind.