Unexpected Surprises
It was very quiet when I awoke, on my own,
that winter morning. Usually I was called to get up on a school
morning. There was something else, too. As a rule, I was called
shortly after the coal furnace was lit and the heat was just beginning
to come out the upstairs' registers. It would be cold and I would
shiver, dressing as quickly as possible.
This morning it was warm. I ran to the
window and raised the dark shades and saw that it was light out
- but that wasn't all! There was snow everywhere, with drifts
that must have been much higher than I. It was December 11, 1944
and Toronto had the "Big Snowstorm", receiving two feet
of snow overnight. (This story was written in 1993 and at that
time was still the record for Toronto's largest overnight snowfall.)
It is still referred to as the "Big Snowstorm", by those
who remember it.
Slipping into my housecoat and slippers,
I hurried downstairs to the kitchen, where the radio was playing
and my mother was at the stove, starting some homemade, beef soup.
She told me about the blizzard and that all of the scools were
closed. What a wonderful surprise! It wasn't that I didn't like
school - I did - but a holiday was always special and the snow
was so white and clean and there was so much of it! It was the
first time that I could remember that the schools had been closed
and I was in the seventh grade.
While I was eating breakfast, my mother
asked me if I thought that I could make my way up the middle of
the road, away up to the Hairdressing shop, two very-long blocks
uphill, from home. I said that I thought I could but asked why.
My mother said she thought it was time that I have my first perm,
if she could get me an appointment. At last - a perm! I was twelve
years old. Oh, I knew that I would get to the shop! I was the
plain one, with perfectly straight hair, kept short. Doreen and
Bruce had beautiful, naturally-curly hair. This was the third
surprise that morning. It was all going to be so exciting, to
actually have curls!
The appointment was made; I donned my Melton
ski suit and started out into the snow. I trudged up the middle
of the road, unable to see over the high drifts, and following
whatever tracks there were, to keep my balance. It took a long
time to manage the two, long blocks and I was more than a little
tired. On the way, I couldn't help wonder what my mother was going
without, in order to do this for me. 'She' had never been in a
hair salon.
When I reached my destination, I opened
the door of the shop and entered timidly. I realized that I hadn't
the faintest idea about how they gave you a perm. There was a
lady having her hair combed and it was so elegant and smelled
so nice. I was certain that she must have just had a perm and
thought how wonderful it was that I was here.
When the hairdresser called me, I shyly
followed her to the sink and she washed my hair. It was nice.
Wonderful thoughts were going 'round in
my head - I'm going to enjoy this; next will be curlers with perfume,
like the other lady had, to make the curl stay; I'll look and
smell so pretty. Was I in for a surprise!
My hair was rolled up carefully in the
curlers but then a solution was put on, that smelled like pure
amonia, making my eyes run, and I thought that I would surely
choke to death. This wasn't as much fun as I thought that it would
be. While I was thinking that, she told me to follow her and ordered
me to sit in a special chair.
Fear gripped me. There were long wires
hanging down from the ceiling and she attached them to the curlers
on my head, before turning on the electricity. Would I ever survive
this electric chair and see all that beautiful white snow again?
I wouldn't mind how tired I would be, stumbling through the drifts
on the way home. For that fact - would I ever see my home and
my family ever again?
The hairdresser left me there and busied
herself, not paying any attention to me at all. Time seemed like
it had stopped, along with my heart. I am sure that I was holding
my breath, just waiting, praying. What was that smell? Was I on
fire? I thought I smelled my hair burning. (I probably did!) I
was terrified, but never let on.
After all, I was on my own and had to act
grown up. I thought that chair must be what an alectric chair,
that I had heard about, must be like. Maybe after only twelve
years on this earth I was being electrocuted!
At that moment, a bell rang and the hairdresser
came. She unhooked me from the wires and I breathed a sigh of
relief. I knew that nothing else that I would have to go through
would be as bad as the experience that I had just survived.
My hair was washed again with sweet-smelling
shampoo so that I couldn't smell the solution as much. I sat under
the dryer and when my hair was dry, the lady combed my hair, fixing
soft curls with her comb and swift fingers. I couldn't believe
it was my image in the mirror. My first perm!
When I arrived home, I gave my mother my
widest grin and took in her look of approval. Not until many years
later, did I tell her how frightened I had been while having that
first perm.
It was a day that I have never forgotten,
and, though I did like my curly hair - I think that the snow was
the highlight of that day. ~Joan Adams Burchell~ (copyright)
LONG BEFORE
SHORTLY AFTER
