In Short – Volume 1, Issue 1 (Spring 2024)
The Weight of Your Hair
By Lois Hibbert
These things are forever imprinted in my memory.
Your fringe of baby curls that grew out straight and thick and long. Growing out your bangs at seven, your hair messy and unbrushed in your school picture. Your hair in a tight bun for a dance recital. The weight of your hair in my hands as I gave you calming head massages after you came home for healing that eluded you.
Your hair, braided so gently by a nurse the morning they removed the tubes and turned off the machine that could almost make us believe you were still breathing.
Lois Hibbert (she/her) is a long-time Ontario, Canada resident who finds that “What if?” questions lead her in unexpected directions for short stories and flash fiction. She also finds short creative nonfiction writing a valuable means of recording events and exploring memories, often bittersweet, as in "The Weight of Your Hair."