LOW CUT

CHAPTER FORTY-NINE; MY HAIR

     

  I kept my hair during the Lock-up. At first it was full and rough. My mum kept complaining about it but she finally gave up and started plaiting it.
She first started with puff-puff then she went to Didi and finally, she started  weaving my hair and before we both knew it my hair grew out like grass.
  It was so full and long too, not as long as Rapunzel's hair but long enough.
   I wasn't happy to go back to School because I had fallen in love with my hair.
Whenever I get the information that School is about to resume, I get really sad and pray to God to postpone it a bit and guess what , it actually happens.
  A lot of people were jealous of my hair especially the Osa Students in My sphere of contact. Most of them started growing their hair because of my hair.
  I remember one time I went to the market with my mum. I ran into an Ex-student who used to be in my class she goes by the name Tola.
"Ah... Winner, see your hair! You would soon cut it! " She shouted when she saw my hair and this got the attention of the market women around and they looked at me strangely and this made me very embarrassed.
   I celebrated my fifteen years old birthday during the lock down and for the very first time, I had a cake for my birthday. I was really excited about this.
My mum and I went to the nearest shopping mall and she got a cake of 2,000 naira for me. It was very cheap but worth it. I made a wish in my mind when I cut the cake. I wished that government Schools would no longer ask girls to cut their hair again.
   My Dad didn't just participate in the Your loveworld specials with Pastor Chris. He made sure we joined the Sunday services online and the communion service too . He also went ahead to buy Pastor Chris' teaching in tape. We had a lot of time to listen and learn from him. One of the most intruding things I saw Pastor Chris do on TV was to heal the Sick and cast out devils. He also did something that was really inspiring to me, he'll say to someone "take it" or blow on them and they'll fall. How and why they fell, I honestly didn't know but I and my Sisters imitate that action.

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"Good news children.... School is resuming on the 19th of October." My mum announced happily while laying on the bed and holding her radio to her right ear like an old woman.
" Yay!" Happiness and Peace screamed out of excitement. I looked at them and smiled , wishing that I was on their shoes. Wishing that I had the right to keep my hair and get a quality Education at the same time. I knew none of that was possible so, I had to prepare myself.
   My mum turned to me and asked briefly "when are you cutting your hair?" There was no hint of sadness in her voice, in fact , it was void of emotion.

    We were heading to the barbing saloon two weeks later when one of my Dad's engineer friends stopped us and informed us that there was a serious protest to end SARS(some uniformed Security agents) in Nigeria. He said that the protest had resulted to the postponing of School Resumption.
  The news made me so happy that I smiled happily for the first time in two weeks. When he left, I turned to my mum who was still heading to the barbing saloon and asked"um... Mummy, aren't we going back home?"
"For what? You are cutting this hair today."
"Okay." I swallowed the lump that was building up in my throat and blinked back  tears that was welling up in my eyes.
  When we got to the barbing saloon, my mum was furious when she saw that the door was locked with a big and heavy pad lock. She looked at me as if I was the cause of it.
  "I'll cut the hair with Scissors when I
We get home. " She finally said after staring at me like I wasn't her daughter.
Her expression and statement was void of emotions.
  When we got home, My Dad didn't let her do it . "Leave her alone, when she is resuming, she would cut the hair. She just has a few weeks to keep it so let her do so." He said. I knew he was heart broken to see me go through all these nonsense, meaningless and Futile pain of cutting a part of my body to learn! To get an education that was supposedly free!