Bee
her name suited her to a T
she was kinetic lightning in a bottle sassy even curtsied jealously to her
but only her husband Russ or
a few close friends were allowed Bee shed acknowledge
them if anyone else dropped Beeaddressed her it was as if they never spoke or
she didnt hear them
to everyone else it was
Bernice or Mrs. Leveack
she was a soughtafter hairdresser
she went to womens homes to do their
hairwhich was ridiculously convenient for her clients
she didnt respect salons They up their prices you pay their
overhead.
her cuts were usually five or ten
dollars less
a dollar bought more then
fivecent candy bars were bigger than the ones were paying a buckfifty for now he
quit candy bars more years ago than he could remember last century
occasionally she cut hair at her
apartment thats where she cut his but he had to be patientunderstand his cut would
take longer because she was making dinner
Russ ate at 6
sometimes as Russ ate at 6 he
watched his reflection eat in a mirror I’m almost done, baby she would say
Take your time, Bee, don’t louse
up his beautiful hair on my account.
Russ would blow kisses at him in the
mirror Anyone else other than me tell you you’re
pretty?
No one aside from you would get
away with that Russ We cant fight in the house anif we took it outside Bernice would never cut my hair again
Leave him alone, Russ. He’s the
only man I’ve ever cut.
Because you cut his mother’s hair.
Because he asked if I would, not
because his mother sent him to me.
Whaddaya call that haircut, boy?
he smiled at Russs reflection
chewing pot roast As Ive told you
before A shag
when Russ finished chewing he
wiped his mouth with a linen napkin Bernices dinner setting was second to none China Silver
Russ was drinking his cold beer from a
crystal goblet A shag. Yah. I seem to
remember.
Why don’t you come with me to
Tony’s, a proper barber shop, and get a real man’s haircut?
Bernice is giving me a real mans
haircut Anything I do is manly You like your hair cropped You have Bernice I like my hair long And I have plenty of women who like my hair
long They latch on itwind their fingers
through it keeping my head exactly where they want it
That’s enough, Joe Bernice said I'll tell your mother . .
.
. She knows . .
.
. Russ is eating.
He is I apologise Sometimes I forget my table manners
Bee.
Please, Russ, my dinner’s not
getting cold. I have it warming in the oven beside your second helping. We’re
just about done here, love.
he and Russ had an affection
despite Russ picking on him
he knew Russ
and Bernice were kids togethermarried right out of high school
he couldnt imaginelet alone
imagine being with only one woman in your life or a woman with one man
the last few haircuts Bernice gave him when he would return after moving to Minnesota she still cut his hair with a cigarette
smouldering between her crimsonslashed lips still the longest hanging ash he
ever saw on any cigarette in anyones mouth Fucking World Record Length that
shed gently take from her lips and place intact in a furrowed bit of a large blownglass
cocktail ashtray heaped with butts and ashes
and then with her free handher other still holding a swatch of his hair shed
clutch to her face a plastic respirator attached to a hose from her oxygen tank
and breathe deeply for several beats
she suffered emphysema
Bernice
Let it go, Joe. I always knew
cigarettes were going to be the death of me. I’m okay with it.
his mother called him to say
Bernice passed Russ had her cremated as she wished but he couldnt think about a memorial for her not just yet
Russ died not a month later Of a broken heart he thought
late May, 2018
(scrawled on a page dated 2222, Saturday,
26 5. 18)
1118,
Monday, 30 7. 18
