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"The Gift"

A Christmas Story.

     Tiffany was a very pretty teenager. She was best known for her long, brown hair, reaching to her hips. She had hair longer than anyone at her high school, and loved to show it off. At school dances, she would fling it around, not caring who was in the way, sometimes hitting others in the face. She never had a problem getting a date for school functions, there were always many trying to get her attention. All the attention she got made her seem to have an uppity attitude, but it was only a show. She was selective as to who she would go out with, primarily hanging around the rich jocks. Coming from a poor single parent household, she thought using her looks and her long hair to get a better life was a good idea. The assortment of rich jocks had proud egos, and weren't that appealing, either. She was beginning to narrow the field to Yuri and Randy.

     Tiffany's status as class beauty queen earned her a share of enemies, also. There were a fair number of students who were more than willing to bring her down. There was no way, she had too many friends on her side. They had to sit and wait for her to make herself vulnerable. The vulnerable moment came on a Friday afternoon, near Christmas. Tiffany found Randy and Yuri fist fighting on the sidewalk. They were fighting over who would take Tiffany to the school Christmas Snow Queen dance the next week. Being from southern Texas, this was the only snow these students would see this Christmas. A new student, named Hal, was able to get the fighting to stop, but not without getting a few punches in the face himself. When Tiffany found out it was her they were fighting over, she told both of them she didn't want to go out with either one again, and started home by herself. "Can I walk you home, Tiffany?", asked Hal. "No!, she yelled, thinking Hal was just another guy trying to get a date. She was disgusted at the way these two rich boys were trying to get her attention. "There are plenty of others", she thought. "I'll know when I meet the right one.", she thought more.

     As Tiffany passed by the vacant lot on her way home, she was grabbed by the mouth and hair and forced behind some bushes. There were four of them, and one produced a knife. She could not tell who they were, because they wore stocking masks, and didn't talk. They made her lie face down on the grass. She could feel the knife on her neck, but was too scared to try to turn her head. All of a sudden, they were gone. Tiffany looked around, stunned at what happened. On the ground next to her was a lock of brown hair. Immediately, she put her hands to her hair and discovered they had chopped off her beautiful brown hair! There was more hair on the bushes, and more on the sidewalk on the other side of the bushes. She picked up the locks of hair and ran home.

     When her mother, Donna, came home from work, she was in shock when Tiffany told her what happened. "Let me call Aunt Janet to see what she can do", exclaimed Donna. Janet, Donna's older sister, was a hairdresser on the north side of town. Janet, like Tiffany, had very long hair. Janet was 45 years old, a bit overweight and single, with hair down to her thighs. She was the hairdresser of choice for many with very long hair, such as Tiffany. Tiffany was especially fond of Aunt Janet because of her hair.

     Janet was extremely angry when she came over and found out what happened to Tiffany. "Do I have to get it cut real short?", cried Tiffany. "Not necessarily, Tiffi.", she said. "Let's see what we can do.", she went on. "The way they cut it, they left some long pieces in the front, so we can bring these around the back...", she started, but was interrupted by Donna. "What are you suggesting, hide the haircut? How stupid! Just even it out, it will eventually grow back!", said Donna. "You don't understand, Donna. You have never had long hair. Your daughter has lost more than just hair, she lost part of her personality! I want to make this as painless as possible.", said Janet. She then combed out what was left of Tiffany's hair and stood back to think. "Tiffi, you never told me what CD's you wanted for Christmas. It's getting late.", said Janet, trying to change the subject. "I don't want anything for Christmas, except to have my long hair back.", cried Tiffany. "I have an idea. There's still enough hair that Debbie, my partner, can put on hair extensions. She's getting quite good at the technique. The only problem is the price of the extensions. For synthetic, hair as long as Tiffi's can run about $150. To do the job right, with real human hair, could run as much as $1,000. "There's no way I can come up with that kind of money!", said Donna. "Just even it out and be done with it.", she went on. Tiffany started to break down. "What will everyone say? I won't be the class beauty queen with short hair!", cried Tiffany. "Calm down, Tiffi. You are not going to have real short hair, not if I can help it.", said Janet. She took her own long hair and put it in a ponytail to get it out of the way. She took the pile of Tiffany's cut hair and was able to make a loose one foot braid out of it. She arranged Tiffany's hair with the braid to look as if it were still somewhat long and rolled up, held by a banana clip. "Wear your hair like this for a couple of days, and I will see what I can come up with on some long hair to use as extensions. Sometimes a client with long hair comes in to have her long hair cut when getting married or having a baby. "How much hair will it take to extend her hair, Janet?", asked Donna. "It would take hair as long as mine to extend hers to her waist. That's about as long as Debbie will extend it.", said Janet. "Be careful and not take off the clip. Don't even try to wash your hair. Your hair will just fall to the ground in front of everyone. If I can't come up with anything, I'll have to cut it into a short bob or a pixie style.", said Janet.

     As the week went by, Janet had no luck obtaining any human hair to do the job. Tiffany started out the week successfully hiding her haircut. But, as the week went on, rumors started about her hiding something with her hair. She tried to calm the rumors by saying she felt bad and didn't feel like taking the time to make her hair look as nice as it should. By the end of the week, many were wondering about her wearing her hair in a banana clip all the time. Some started to grab for it at lunch time. Tiffany got away and started to run home, skipping the last half of Friday. She was met at the door by Hal. "What's wrong, Tiffi?", he asked. With nothing to lose, she asked Hal what he thought if she cut her hair. "I would still think of you as Tiffany. The same Tiffany, only with shorter hair. What kind of question is that?", asked Hal. "I'm thinking of cutting my hair this weekend. I'm scared as to what others will think", she returned. "If you lose any friends, or if any of your friends like you less, you didn't need them in the first place. Just do what you want with your hair.", said Hal. "Thanks, Hal.", she said and went on.

     That same day, Janet left work early, feeling bad with a cold. When she got to her apartment, she took a hot shower. As she got dressed to go lie down, she looked at herself in the mirror. She looked at her overweight figure, the dimples of cellulite on her thighs, her aging face, and the long brown hair, her only beauty asset, that  she used to cover her aging flaws. She began to think about Tiffany. As she combed through her long, wet hair with a tortoise shell comb from her grandmother, she thought of how Tiffany could no longer enjoy moments like this with her hair. "I wonder how she's doing with the hair charade? By now, she's probably about ready to give up. I tried, I just couldn't find any hair for extensions. I've failed her. She was so beautiful with her long hair!", she lamented.

     When Tiffany got home, she removed the banana clip and let the cut pieces of hair fall to the floor. She couldn't wait to wash her hair, it was so greasy. After she was done, she called down to the shop where Janet worked, only to find Janet had left for the day. She called Janet's apartment and told her that she'd had it, and everyone was suspicious of her hiding something. "I've had it Janet! Just cut it off. I am ready to deal with the consequences. I can't go on this way. This one guy even told me cutting my hair wouldn't change anything, at least with him.", said Tiffany. "Oh Tiffi! I'm sorry I couldn't help you. I've been thinking of you all day. Give me one more night to find some hair for you. Don't do anything until you hear from Debbie.", said Janet. Tiffany took an aspirin and went to lie down. She had a dream of a women cutting off her hair and handing it to her. She woke up, realizing it was not true. When she went back to sleep, she had the same dream. The woman said, "Here, you need this more than I do". She woke up again, and decided to go watch television.

     When Donna got home from work, She found Tiffany with her hair out of the banana clip. "Are you ready to finish cutting it now?", she asked. "Yes, I called Aunt Janet. She has a cold, she told me to wait for Debbie to call. I guess Debbie will finish it.", said Tiffany, with a tone of finality. About an hour passed, then Debbie called. "Come down to the shop, we found some human hair to use for hair extensions!", said Debbie. The process took over two hours. Unknown to Donna or Tiffany, Janet was watching from the storeroom on a security camera. When finished, Tiffany was transformed into a beauty with waist length hair. She was in high spirits. "What happened, did someone come in and just cut four feet of hair?", asked Tiffany. "Who is it, so I can thank her?", asked Donna. "I can't answer that, some things are not meant to be known, just accepted.", said Debbie. "I can't believe how the color matches. It looks as if it was meant to happen. Her hair was in great shape!", said Tiffany. In the storeroom, Janet was so happy seeing Tiffany's reaction to getting her long hair back that she cried. She was so happy that Tiffany could get past the horrible incident. Debbie explained how to care for the extensions and gave her a tortoise shell comb. "Your Aunt Janet gives these to her customers with very fine long hair, prone to breakage. Only use this on your hair from now on. In a while, your hair will be just as it was before you were attacked, yet no one but us will ever know.", said Debbie. "I can tell everyone at school that I just got a trim. Thanks Debbie. I'll call my aunt tomorrow when she feels better.", said Tiffany. She scampered out of the beauty shop with a new lease on life.

     Tiffany called Janet the next day. "I can't believe you pulled this off, Aunt Janet.", said Tiffany. "You saved me from terrible embarrassment!", she went on. "Just think of it as an early Christmas, Tiffi.", said Janet. Tiffany went to school on Monday and everyone thought her hair was so much more healthy looking. "What happened? It looks like you got all new hair!", one asked. "It must be the new trim.", implied Tiffany. This new attention she got over the extensions was more than she expected. Hal noticed her. "Looks like you went through with your cut. The way you talked Friday, I thought you were going to do something drastic. I think it looks great.", he said. Hal ended up taking Tiffany to the Snow Queen dance and she was elected the Snow Queen, and with it, the privlege to ride as Queen on the Christmas float in the parade. She was on top of the world as Christmas Eve came.

     There was a knock on the door on Christmas Eve. "Get that, Tiffi!", asked Donna. As Tiffany opened the door, she couldn't believe what she saw! The lady in the short red dress, white sweater, and a short bobbed haircut said, "Hi, Tiffi"! "Aunt Janet?", she asked. "Merry Christmas, Tiffi! You look beautiful with your hair long again!", she said.

"The Gift" is an account of a surprise, unselfish gift from one woman with long hair to another who was wronged. It is completely fictional.

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