Harry’s hair had been in the process of falling out for years. He had tried every over-the-counter remedy and prescription available with no success.
Over the years, his receding hairline had become a widow’s peak, then male pattern baldness. For a time, he went with an awful comb-over. At last, one day he looked in his mirror and beheld the dreaded visage of a bald pate encircled with a wispy fringe.
His self-confidence, never high, fell to joke level. His wife pretended it didn’t matter but he saw how she looked at men with thick hair, and it crushed his spirit. He knew it was foolish vanity, but knowing a thing and disregarding it took a strength he lacked. As a youth, his full mane was not so much a source of pride as something he took for granted.
Lacking the chutzpa for a shaved head, he considered plugs, weaves, and hair pieces, all too expensive and none realistic enough to suit him. He took to wearing hats, floppy fisherman hats, and baseball caps. His large head on narrow shoulders could not support the look. His wife begged him to stop with the hats or go fishing.
So, he put hooks and lures on his fisherman’s hat and went fishing. He discovered peace in the solitude. He learned there is a thin line between fishing and standing on the shore like an idiot, but when he returned home with dinner in his creel, his wife would smile, remove his hat, and kiss his bald dome. “You’ve never been more attractive to me, dear,” she would say and in time, Harry came to believe her.
Mike Whitney writes from a hillside in Hayesville, North Carolina.
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15 Responses to “HARRY’S HAIR • by Mike Whitney”
Comments
« MY SHARK, MY BROTHER • by Hal Houser | Home | WATCHING FISH • by Donna Johnson »
November 22nd, 2007 at 5:49 am
One can grow up at any age. Lovely piece. No pun intended!!! (Well, perhaps…)
November 22nd, 2007 at 6:13 am
Avis,
One can grow up at any age. Lovely piece. No pun intended!!! (Well, perhaps…)
LOL, thanks, and hope you have a great Thanksgiving.
mike
November 22nd, 2007 at 9:24 am
Wait a minute!! I thought this was about lack of growth?
LOL!
Good story, Mike.
November 22nd, 2007 at 9:27 am
Lol! Nice one, DJ.
I loved the message behind this piece. Sometimes we’re the only ones who really care about how we look on the outside–others care about out inner beauty.
November 22nd, 2007 at 10:16 am
Thanks! You are right! Thanks for reading and commenting. Happy Thanksgiving, or Boxing Day….
mike
November 22nd, 2007 at 10:54 am
Lol. Thanksgiving was in October up here, but thanks! And Boxing day is the day after Christmas Day (so we get two stats in a row ;P )
November 22nd, 2007 at 11:32 am
Sweet! I was worried for him.
November 22nd, 2007 at 9:21 pm
That was a sweet story
Loved the end.
November 23rd, 2007 at 9:30 am
Very cute and entirely believeable.
December 3rd, 2007 at 4:47 am
Thanks, Vijayendra! I appreciate your concern, and for commenting!
mike
December 3rd, 2007 at 4:48 am
Thanks very much, Hamita. ;>)
mike
December 3rd, 2007 at 4:49 am
Thank you, Rena. I’m glad you enjoyed it!
mike
June 7th, 2009 at 1:05 pm
I like this Mike, for the fact Harry and I seem to have a lot in common (as, I suppose, a lot of men do). Although, I will refuse to take up fishing!!!
July 8th, 2009 at 5:19 pm
Ha-ha! Very much enjoyed. A nice light piece to counter all the darksih stuff of late.
July 8th, 2009 at 11:00 pm
I agree with your worldview — and every writer’s worldview reflects in his writing. There’s nothing as satisfying as acceptance.
Best
Anita