Later, when he was undergoing chemotherapy, I wrote the following: The Haircut We shaved his head today, it was time to spurn the moult and dreadful chemo wigs we'd seen on others - clinging to the dregs of days before, when everything seemed fine. We started with a cautious number three and I, a novice, shaking as I pushed the clippers round and up, rushed to get it done. Then stood him up to see. Without his hair he looked no longer sick but really rather cool, his head a shape that I'd not seen before - a sinewed neck beneath a perfect egg - a hollow at the nape. We laughed. I took an envelope of hair, a piece of him to keep inside a drawer.

Posted by bellamadden at 2022-07-29 15:31:05 UTC