amused, but exhaustedI was in the St. Laurent Shopping Centre, taking care of some last-minute shopping, and was taking a break on one of the benches, my feet hurting a little bit. I was adjusting my boots, and had my head bent over, when I felt a hand rub my scalp. Now, it's important to remember that I am balding, my head being a lot more follicly challenged than it was in the photo that you see here (because that was taken some 10 years ago or so), and there's a lot more grey there than there used to be (but that's another story!). And I tend to cut the hair short in winter, so as not to get the "static hair" look when I wear a tuque, and let the beard grow out a bit.
I looked up, and saw an attractive lady in her late 40s with blue eyes and dark brown hair, cut short, somewhat wavy, with a little girl of about 10 next to her. They were obviously out Christmas shopping, judging from the bags and the like, the little girl even carrying a couple of small bags.
The lady excused herself, saying she doesn't usually do this sort of thing, but she just had to.
"Why?" I asked, friendly enough. It's Christmas, after all, and while my feet hurt, I was more surprised than anything else.
"Well, you see," she said to me, "my husband, Paul, is bald like you, but he insists on combing the hair over the top after growing it long over on one side, and I find it really repugnant. I keep telling him to cut the hair short, the way you have it, and just let nature take its course."
"That doesn't explain the...fondle," I said. The little girl giggled.
"It's simple really," the woman, who told me her name was Connie, said. "I just wanted to see if it was real."
We both had a good laugh, the little girl smiling up at me all the while. I introduced myself to Connie and said that thet it was indeed real, and she asked me if I would mind having a photo taken of myself so that she could show it to her husbnad. I balked at first, but agreed, and she took out her cellphone and snapped a shot of me. She said that her husband, David, would have to change his ways now, since she had snapped the proof of the fact that one could look good, even when one is bald. I blushed a bit at the compliment, and then commeneted that I wasn't bald, I'm follicly challenged.
Since we were near the Food Court, Connie asked if I would join her and little Tess for coffee, her treat, to repay me for my kindness at her impulsive gesture and for potentially helping her get her David to...change his ways. I readily agreed, and we spent the next 20 minutes or so chatting about things and talking. When we went our separate ways, I couldn't help but feel happy, since it's not everyday that someone strokes one's balding head and scalp.
After I got home, and Stef dropped by, she got a good laugh out of the story, and said that she wished she had been there to see it. And then she said something to me that I will always appreciate. "Dear, your balding is beautiful."
What a wonderful, if somewhat weird, day this has been. :)