‘Oh please Ma,’ she coaxed. ‘I wouldn’t cut a heavy bang like Mary Power’s, but please me cut just a little more, so I could
curl it across my forehead.’
‘Very well then,’ Ma gave her consent.
Laura took the shears from Ma’s workbasket and standing before the glass she cut the hair above her forehead into a narrow fringe about two inches long. she laid her long slate pencil on the heater, and when it was heated she held it by the cool end and wound wisps of the short hair around the heated end. Holding each wisp tightly around the pencil, she curled the bangs.
‘Turn around and let me see you,’ Ma said.
Laura turned. ‘Do you like it Ma?’
‘It looks quite nice,’ Ma admitted. ‘Still, I liked it better before it was cut.’
‘Turn this way and let me see,’ said Pa. He looked at her for a long minute and his eyes were pleased. ‘Well, if you must where this lunatic fringe, I think you’ve made a good job of it.’ And Pa turned again to his paper.
I was given the Little House set of books 30 years ago this Christmas and I’ve taken them everywhere with me through the years. They are in the “first packed, last unpacked” book box that I have pack any time I move. Maybe they aren’t some miracle of writing genius but they were an escape for an unhappy kid all those years ago.
I read and re-read this series of books multiple times in the couple of years after I received them. Mr. Edwards was my favorite character and I really wished he was my friend. My 8 year old brain just knew he was the kind of man you could tell ANYTHING to…and I needed someone like that in my life. Grateful for early books to lose myself in and for the ability to read. 🙂