On my first visit home to Barbados, I stayed with Mum and her sister Vi, aptly known as the widowed dragons. After warm hugs and wet kisses, the two of them sat on the caned couch across from me. What about the red ting in your head, my mother asked. She referred to the short auburn afro I now wore with pride. My aunt said men loved women with nuff hair. I reminded them I was married. Mum said I was still her little girl and she gine start taking care of my hair. I smiled. She groaned. That Hair.
Evena Gottschalk is a Barbadian-Canadian writer and storyteller. She lives in Toronto and has published short stories on Brian Henry’s Quick Brown Fox Blog.