The Next Page May 2014 | Page 19

"Sorry ma'am. I'll try not to do it again, ma'am." Lawrence responded. "Esther, I love your hair!" Minnie exclaimed. "Yeah, when did you cut it?" Louise asked. Louise Sawyer is five feet tall, skinny as a beanpole with a heart the size of Texas. "An hour ago." I replied with smile. "Does it look all right? I had a bit of trouble in the back..." "Nonsense, it looks gorgeous" Josephine Linda replied. Josephine could be a movie star if she wanted to be. She had dark brown hair, long luscious eyelashes, a small round lip, and these big baby blue eyes. "What did your mother have to say about it?" Louise asked. "I don't know. She's outta town." I said. "What?" Ernest Baxter squawked. "Outta town?" Charlie Shaw repeated. "Ooh, you are gonna receive an earful when she gets home," they said together. Ernest Baxter and Charlie Shaw were separated at birth, I swear. I am honestly surprised that they haven't been thrown in jail yet. Whenever those two are together mischief is sure to follow. "Esther Allen, what have you done to your gorgeous, gorgeous hair? Back in my day, young women were proud to be ladies and did not just go cutting off their hair whenever it pleased them." Charlie continued, adopting a higher tone of voice that was supposed to imitate my mother. "Mother," Ernest replied in a similar higher pitched voice, "It's a new century. You do not understand. Just because I wear shorter skirts and have shorter hair does not make me any less of a lady." 17