| see Behind her in the mirror, one hand grasping firmly near the roots. Not tugging but holding it still so the quick, solid strokes of the brush on the rat's nest below, don't pull at her tender scalp. It's steady work, 6 nests of hair having grown solid and varied in their size and location overnight. I watch her face in the mirror as my hand slows, working a difficult spot. Her beauty queen smile to herself...new big teeth sprouting next to gaps, baby teeth wiggling nearby. A serious almost sad frown next, her contrite look as the tangle smooths out under my hand. She catches me watching her. “Sometimes I don't know how to hold my face.” Her small features transforming into the vacant, far off gaze of school children everywhere. “I don't know whether to smile,” she smiles. “Or if I should look serious or hold my face still.” “When do you pick smiling?” I ask, enjoying this un-coerced insight into her thinking. “Well, when something is funny. Or something makes me happy like Hannah Montana and The Jonas Brothers. And sometimes when someone looks sad to cheer them up. And, of course, when someone smiles at me.” “Like now?” I say, smiling to her. I work the next knot, smoothing the hair around it as she tries the faces all on again in the mirror. “What other faces do you make?” She straightens her lips, pursing them together, gaze lowered. “What is that one for?” “For when someone is angry. Or they are telling you something very important or serious.” I ponder this, working the last few knots through with little struggle. She catches my eyes again and crinkles her nose, tongue popping out at me with nary a thought. I stick mine out, back at her, and she grins. And then, before I can consider any deep potential revelations regarding her psyche, we are outdoing one another with silly faces until she is tangle free and giggling.
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