Part VII: Time Warp 2000’s – Cut! #18 (Chapter 120)
Shel hands me a long silver box. “For you,” he says.
I open the lid. An auburn braid, stiff and inert ‒ my own
hair ‒ lies in
a bed of crinkled tissue paper. A silver clasp holds the hairpiece together, a
silver ribbon ties the end.
It’s not me anymore, and yet...
“It’s lovely.” I hold the braid up to my crown.
As I pose in front of the mirror –
The question becomes an exclamation.
!
*
I lied to
Candace.
Peppered throughout my life, there had been clues: small slip
ups, innuendos, sly looks, whispers, half-truths, outright lies.
Auntie wanting to change my name.
Candy.
A perpetual mourning running through the family.
It all made sense now.
Was Candy the missing fair-haired child and I, the reminder of
loss, the family outcast?
Why did I stay while she was cut from the family?
