Making Pretty
4247 Maplewood Dr.
Saturday, January 25, 1992
12:40 PM
“Are you sure you’ll be all right, Mother?” Amanda asked anxiously. “It’s an awful lot for Lee and me to leave you with.”
“Amanda, I’ll be just fine, believe me,” Dotty replied. “Jenna and I will have a lot of fun. We’ll be fine.”
“But it’s not just Jenna.” Lee said. His daughter’s voice floated in from the family room. He could see her out of the corner of his eye as she talked to herself, little hands making dramatic gestures. Playacting—it was her new favorite thing.
“Lee’s right,” Amanda said. “I mean, Tinkerbell is an awfully—”
Dotty held up her hand. “Tinkerbell is a big teddy bear and Jenna loves her. She’ll be fine.”
As if on cue the Ferguson’s dog walked into the kitchen. On top of the St. Bernard’s head was perched a pink doll’s cap—and resting on his back—hastily Lee grabbed his jacket from the dog.
And trotting directly behind the St. Bernard was—
“Tink’bell, tome back!”
“Whoa—come here, munchkin.” Bending down Lee lifted the toddler into his arms. “What do you think you’re doing? Huh?”
Jenna shrugged, brushing her bangs out of her eyes as she looked up at him. “I make Tink’bell pretty.”
“Oh Jenna,” Amanda plucked the hat from the dog’s head. “Sweetheart, you don’t need to dress the dog.”
“But I want to, Mommy.” Jenna replied. “Make pretty.”
“We know that,” Lee told her. “But you know, Tinkerbell’s pretty without clothes—her fur is pretty.”
“Oh.” Jenna looked at her hand critically, turning it over and back before putting it up for Lee’s inspection. “I have fur?”
Lee laughed, kissing the tiny fingertips. “No, you don’t have fur, munchkin. You have hair, and Tinkerbell has fur.”
“I have hair.” Jenna touched the top of her blond head. “Right?”
“Yes, you have hair.”
“Tink’bell has fur?”
“That’s right.”
“Why?”
Why? It was a question she’d been asking a lot lately—about everything. Lee wracked his brain for an answer. “She—um—she has fur to keep her warm.”
“Fur pretty?”
“Yes, her fur is pretty. So she doesn’t need anything else. Okay?”
Jenna nodded, apparently satisfied. “’kay Daddy.”
“Very good,” Lee told her. “Now we have to go somewhere. You be a good girl for your grandmother?”
“I will,” Jenna said. Lee hugged her briefly and Amanda kissed her daughter’s forehead.
“We’ll be back very soon, sweetheart, I promise.”
SMK SMK SMK SMK
“There we go, Jenna.” Dotty tied the last corner of the old bed sheet—one of Jamie’s old Star Wars sheets—to the family room end table. “Now you can put some of the sofa pillows in here—like this—and see? Now you have a tent that you can play in.”
“Tink’bell too?”
“Of course,” Dotty replied. If Tinkerbell could fit. Though at the moment the St. Bernard, who was lying on the carpet, looked somewhat less than thrilled at the prospect. “But only if he wants to, darling—he needs his rest.”
“’Kay ‘Ma.” Jenna picked up her construction paper and a pair of safety scissors from the carpet. “I go tut paper in there, ‘kay?”
“All right. I’ll be right out here, Jenna.” Dotty grabbed her novel, The Victorian Album, a cup of tea and settled herself comfortably onto a corner of the family room sofa. She could heard Jenna singing to herself in the tent—one of those little songs that she had started making up recently. Dotty was ten pages into the fifth chapter—the heroine was busily searching in the dusty attic for clues to a past crime, when the phone rang, completely shattering the mood.
“I det it!” Jenna cried out from behind the bed sheets.
“No—I’ll get it.” With a small sigh Dotty bookmarked her place and picked up the cordless from the coffee table.
“Hello?”
“Mrs.—you—absolutely free-” The voice was so faint that Dotty could only pick up every other word.
“What?” Dotty asked. “I’m—sorry—you’ll have to speak up. No, hold on—let me get the extension in the kitchen. That usually works better.” She walked into the kitchen, grabbing the phone from its charger. “Now, what was that again?”
The voice on the other end of the line was now crystal clear. “I wanted to let you know that you’ve just won our special sweepstakes.”
A sweepstakes. These people could be downright relentless—they had pulled her away from her book for this?
“No, I’m sorry. I’m simply not interested in buying anything.”
“But ma’am, it’s free.”
“What’s free? What company is this?”
“Tink’bell—tome here. Pease?” Jenna’s voice. From her vantage point Dotty watched as the dog rose and slowly walked behind the tent.
“This is the Acme Cleaning Company, and we’re offering you a year of free carpet cleaning if you’ll just purchase our special—”
“If I have to purchase something, then how is it free?” Dotty demanded.
“Well the cleaning is free.”
“No—no sorry, I’m not interested. Please don’t call again.” With that Dotty hung up the phone and went back in the living room. Those people—she had half a mind to write a letter to someone.
“Tink’bell hold ‘till!” Jenna said. “I need to tut.”
Cut what? Dotty had that same feeling that she’d had back when Amanda was that age—the almost supernatural sense that trouble was brewing.
“Jenna Leigh Stetson?” She called out.
A long silence. “Yeah?” the voice underneath the bed sheet piped out.
“Can you come out from under that sheet? Out where I can see you?”
“Um—no. I not ready.”
“Right now, missy. I’m not asking you again.”
A tiny hand peaked out, followed by an arm and a little foot—slowly her granddaughter’s head emerged and Dotty could see exactly what she’d been doing with the safety scissors.
“But darling your—” she couldn’t think of words to describe what she saw. “I mean you cut off a lot of—”
Dotty’s voice faded away as the dog crawled out from under the tent.
The Fergusons were never going to forgive them, she thought—and they would never ask them to dog sit again. She put her hand over her mouth.
“I tut, see?” Smiling widely, Jenna motioned to her hair and to Tinkerbell’s fur. “I tut hair beautiful.”
Dotty just returned the smile and shook her head. “Oh, Jenna.”
SMK SMK SMK SMK
5:30 PM
“How was your mission?” Dotty asked as Lee and Amanda came inside. “Did it go well?”
“It wasn’t exactly a mission—just a milk run,” Lee told his mother-in-law. “But yes, it went very well.”
“Where’s Jenna and Tinkerbell?” Amanda asked, looking around. “I don’t see—”
“Well, they’re here,” Dotty led them over to the couch. “But I think you need to see them first. Sit right down.”
Amanda sat on the sofa beside Lee. “Why do we need to see them first? Mother—what’s going on?”
“Did something happen?” Lee was beginning to get an uneasy feeling—he couldn’t read anything from Dotty’s expression. “They’re all right, aren’t they? Nothing happened.”
“They’re fine,” Dotty replied. “Trust me; it’s nothing like that at all. It’s just a little fashion show.”
“Fashion show?” Lee repeated. He looked over at Amanda, but he could tell from her expression that she was just as clueless as he was.
“Jenna—Tinkerbell—would you come out here, please?” Dotty called.
Tinkerbell came in first. At first she looked just fine. But upon closer inspection Lee could see that parts of her fur looked uneven—there were even a couple of bald spots. The dog stopped beside the sofa, gazing at them reproachfully.
That was when Lee saw his daughter.
Beside him Amanda let out a gasp. “Oh my gosh…” she said softly.
One side of Jenna’s hair was much shorter than the other—the bangs which had previously been too long were completely cut off—leaving her hairline jagged and even bald in spots.
“Munchkin—” Lee must have looked as shocked as he felt, because as soon as she looked at him Jenna’s smile faded slightly.
“She did this while she was playing in her tent,” Dotty explained. “And then while I was on the phone she did the dog. She that she cut it beautiful—and I just didn’t have the heart to tell her otherwise.”
Amanda nodded. “I understand. Come here, sweetheart.” Jenna climbed on the couch to sit between Lee and Amanda. Amanda put her arm around her daughter. “What made you cut your hair?”
Jenna looked down at her lap and then back up at her mother. “I tut good.”
“Yeah, I can see,” Amanda said. “But you’re not supposed to use your scissors that way—you’re only allowed to cut paper. You can’t cut your own hair. Okay?”
Jenna took in a deep breath and let it out. “’kay.”
“And you’re not supposed to cut Tinkerbell’s fur either.” Lee told her.
Jenna’s voice was small. “I—I make pretty. She told me.”
“She told you?” Lee asked. “Tinkerbell told you?”
“Uh-huh.”
“Are you telling me the truth?”
“It poss’ble.”
“Munchkin, listen to me.” Lee made his voice stern. “Tinkerbell doesn’t need anyone to cut her fur. I don’t want you to ever do that again. All right?”
“’kay.” Jenna said again.
“So, what do you need to say?” Lee asked her.
“I sorry, Tink’bell,” Jenna replied, her voice tearful. Reaching over she gave the dog a gentle pat. “Sorry, Daddy.”
“I know.” Lee kissed the top of her now-bristly hair.
Jenna looked up at Amanda. “I sorry too, Mommy.”
“Oh, sweetheart, it really is okay. And look— tomorrow we’ll take you to get your hair cut.”
“But I tut already.” Jenna looked confused.
Amanda replied. “Yeah, I know. They just need to make it even, that’s all. They’ll make it really pretty, I promise”
“Yeah,” Jenna said. “I not ‘sposed to tut my hair, right? Or Tink’bell’s fur?”
“That’s absolutely right.” Amanda said.
“Well, now that the drama’s over,” Dotty rose from the nearby armchair. “I made us all some homemade soup and sandwiches in the kitchen.”
“That sounds wonderful, Mother.” Amanda and Lee rose from the sofa and Jenna clambered down. Lee took his daughter’s hand.
That had been easy, Lee thought, feeling a rush of relief. As far as discipline went—no tantrums and Jenna had still learned her lesson.
“Daddy?” Jenna tugged on his hand. He looked down at her.
“Yeah?” He asked.
“I tut Terri’s hair?”
Terri was a little girl at Jenna’s nursery school, Lee knew—Jenna had said that she was mean to her. He and Amanda exchanged glances.
How well had she learned that lesson?
“Ahh—no, munchkin,” he told her. “You can’t cut Terri’s hair.”
“But why?”
The End
Story Notes:
*The usual disclaimers apply. Thanks to Cheryl and to Jan for the brainstorming and a very special thanks to Cheryl for allowing me to use Tinkerbell, which she featured in her story Thanksgiving Day Disaster. Hope you enjoy :) *