Page 44 - The Mending Season

and my hair still shone from the oil spray I had used that morn­ ing. I patted my head, willing the hair to go through a sudden, wild growth spurt that would allow it to hold a ponytail.As I stood in front ofthe mirror and the row ofbasins, KB and Dirusha walked in, laughing.“Oh, I just cant stand it when my dad does that!” KB exclaimed, stressing the word “stand”and dragging out the “s” so that her sentence hung on it for a few seconds.“He doesn’t mind spending, I guess,” Dirusha said as they both went into stalls and I could hear them peeing as they spoke.“Im, like, ‘Dad, I only said I was thinking of playing the guitar. Im not a musician. You cant just go and buy it for me just because I was thinking about it’,” said KB.“He spoils you,”Dirusha replied. They flushed and came out ofthe stalls. Realising that I had been there for an embarrass­ ingly long period, I pretended to be removing a stain from my dress by wetting my fingers and rubbing the water on my hem.KB stood next to me and pulled out the rubber band in her ponytail to let her long hair fall on her shoulders. She brushed it out with her fingers so that I could see just how long and straight it was. I tried not to stare and strained my eye as I looked from its corner. Dirusha gave me a polite “hi” and KB ignored me.“Are you going to play it?” Dirusha asked.“I’ll probably take lessons, now that hes bought it. Urgh! I nee-eed to relax my hair again this weekend. OK Mom, you’re paying for another salon visit.”“Oh! I forgot. It’s the big weekend.”KB dropped her arms and smiled at Dirusha, taking her eyes away from the mirror for the first time. She sighed. “Ah ... he’s soooo cute! He’s such a babe!”Dirusha screeched. “Aaaah! I can’t believe you’ll be with a guy when I’ll be sitting at home babysitting my stupid uncle’s44