Haircuts and Hospitals
Lily could do it. She could walk into that barber shop and get her hair cut without an issue. The teenager hesitated before reaching for the door. “What if the haircut looks terrible on me? What if the barber slips and gives me a bald spot? What if…” the teenager squeaked, and quickly withdrew her hand from the brass handle. “Now at 15 I have to be the only teenager terrified of a haircut” Lily thought sourly.
Honestly, it wasn’t even her fault she couldn’t stay within a five foot radius of the nearest hair salon. When she was in about fifth grade, she had gone to the barber to get a simple haircut, just a trim really. However, things took a turn for the worse when the TV located in the corner of the salon suddenly turned on, resulting in the hairdresser jumping half a foot, ensuing in a pair of scissors slipping, and finally ending with a chunk of honey brown hair on the floor. Lily pouted. The rest of that year was pure torture. Everywhere she looked she saw girls with long flowing hair, and once or twice even boys with longer hair then her’s.
Cringing, Lily stuffed the memory back in a corner which was already overflowing with the rest of her embarrassing memories. If she couldn’t do this now she might as well go to The Hospital early.
As a required venture for high school, she figured the best way to go about her community service project would be to volunteer at the ‘Greenville County Clinic’, or as she often referred to it, ‘The Hospital’. Every day for the next three to four months she would have to head down to the clinic every day from six to eight.
Lily rushed down the sidewalk which was still slightly grainy from the torrent of rain the area had received just a few hours ago. Groaning, she spotted the hill that the hospital rested atop. No doubt the sides of the hill would be mushy and sticky from the mini storm they had just received. She winced as she made her way through the concoction of mud, bugs, and who knows what else before quickly dashing inside the building.
The inside of the building was so different compared to the outside world. The walls were a bleached white with bright paintings sporadically covering the surfaces. The thing that surprised Lily the most was that, despite what most people thought, the lobby rarely smelled of antiseptics. The medicinal smell was only prevalent on days where the janitor had just come through with his mop and detergent. The floors also slick from the fresh waxing they had just received proved to provide very little friction for Lily’s already unstable boots.
“Early today?” Lily jumped as she heard the bubbly voice of the hospital receptionist.
“Hello, Melanie,” Lily politely said to the older woman as she scanned Lily’s volunteer card.
Melanie smiled at Lily before handing her a few sheets of paper with all the instructions for the day written on them and bid her farewell.
Today her work wasn’t very complex or strenuous. All Lily had to do was survey the pediatric floors for anyone who may need help. At least, that’s what she thought until she was faced with the purgatory that was squealing children.
Absolutely worn out and stressed, Lily made her way towards the front desk. “It must be past ten,” Lily thought tiredly. Her internal grumbles were interrupted by a cry from behind a closed door.
A bit surprised and worried, Lily cracked open the door to find a young girl curled up on a bed.
“What’s wrong?” Lily inquired softly.
The little girl sniffled a bit more before angling herself away from Lily.
“Nothing” came the husky reply.
Lily winced. If anything she had a particularly soft spot for children younger than her, despite her short temper.
“Okay” Lily replied softly before settling herself on a chair located on the other end of the room.
“Go away” came a slightly choked and irritated voice.
“Nope,” Lily replied, popping the end of her one word reply.
Growling, the figure tossed itself so it was facing the wall, and pulled the covers over its head. After about half an hour, agitated fidgeting melded into subtle tosses and turns before completely dissipating into utter stillness.
Lily smirked. No one could ever be as patient or stubborn as she could when it came to having her way. She quickly gathered her things before tip toeing out of the door and racing down the hall and out the hospital.
The next day she tried the barber shop again, only to chicken out just as the hair stylist called her up. Angry and irritated was an understatement to what Lily felt as she rounded the corner towards the hospital.
Sighing, Lily placated herself before entering the building. However, any sense of pacification she had had moments before was quickly squandered as she received her assignment for the day – another trip to the pediatric ward.
After chasing children who could give Road Runner a run for his money and mollifying cranky kids who found the slightest things to become antagonized over, Lily’s shift was finally over. As she passed the hall she had just gone down yesterday, she paused and looked towards the wood finished door that had been exceptionally quiet today. In fact, Lily hadn’t had to go in there once.
Frowning, Lily edged the door open. The same girl from yesterday was propped up reading a book.
“So whatcha doin’?”
The girl jumped as Lily’s soprano voice shattered the still of the room. The girl huffed at the disturbance and shot Lily an exasperated look.
“I’m reading” came the younger girl’s reply.
“Hn,” Lily replied as her eyes drifted to the bold spine of the book in the younger girls hands.
“The Swiss Family Robinson? I remember reading that book when I was younger!” Lily thought. “Hey, don’t I have another book like that in my backpack?”
After shuffling a bit in her backpack Lily produced an old dusty book.
Lily tossed the novel at the reclined figure. “Here,” she said
The gesture certainly received the attention Lily was looking for as the girl picked up the book and looked at Lily with confusion written in her brown eyes.
“You like adventure books don’t you?” Lily gestured to the book in the girl’s grasp.
“A…” The girl started, but before she could finish her thought Lily had already deserted the room.
Lily’s face was burning a lovely shade of maroon by the time she left the hospital. She never was good at giving others gifts and when she did there was always that underlying thought that they would hate the present. On top of all that there was also the fact that the girl’s cold demeanor scared her a bit, although she would never admit it. “That book was in such poor condition too, and I didn’t even wait for her to respond!” her self-conscious inner voice lamented.
Lily made a mental note to visit room 308 tomorrow as she snuggled under her warm covers. “She would get that girl to talk to her if it was the last thing she did,” Lily thought with a self-confident smirk plastered on her face.
Lily sighed forlornly. What had she been thinking? Nothing that Lily thought was easy ever was as simple as it seemed. Take rock climbing for example or knitting or getting an apathetic kid to talk to her. Lily bowed her head as she recalled the events of the day before.
“You don’t take care of your books, do you?” was the only answer she received after she raced into the room first thing after her shift.
Lily’s self-pity fueled meanderings were put on a hiatus as her watch rung out signaling the end of another shift. This time her steps were hesitant as she approached the engraved 308 beside the frame of the door. Steeling herself for another session of talking to an indifferent wall, Lily was surprised to find the girl waiting for her.
“Let’s play a game,” came the girl’s even tone, so different from Lily’s voice which changed pitches faster than the erratic girl could change emotions.
Lily’s surprised face would have made even the most stoic person break into laughter, however the younger girl’s features never wavered.
“Don’t act so surprised. It’s insulting.” This time the girl’s voice showed a little irritation, embarrassment and…amusement? “I’m bored, that’s all.”
“Okay,” Lily said carefully treading around anything that might result in a withdrawal of the offer, “What do you want to play?”
The girl looked at Lily for a moment before condescendingly replying with a shrug.
Lily growled before collecting herself. She had made progress and a quick slip of her tongue was NOT going to ruin it for her.
“Okay how about…verbal tennis?”
The girl looked mildly interested and turned towards Lily with her eyebrows arched.
“Okay, so I ask you a questions, and then you ask me one, okay?” Lily quickly explained.
The girl nodded and Lily started out the game.
“Okay to start it off, what’s your name?”
“Suzuki.”
“Great, now it’s your turn.”
“What’s your name?”
“Lily. Alright let’s see. What’s your favorite color?”
“Pink…”
Lily found herself slightly shocked. Pink was not the answer she was expecting form the remarkably mature acting girl sitting across from her. She had expected a mature sounding color like maroon or an exceptionally boring color like beige that only adults had the mindset to enjoy.
“O…Okay, your turn.”
“You’re surprised,” the voice smoothed out into the still of the room.
“Well sorta, I mean, you act like an adult, and the last time an adult told me they liked pink was when I made an incredibly garish bracelet for my mom.”
Then if her previous answer wasn’t shocking enough for Lily, Suzuki started giggling.
“You really are an idiot aren’t you?” came the reply from the younger girl.
“Well, then Einstein,” Lily huffed in mock indignation.
Lily and Suzuki burst into another round of laughter.
“Did you really make something so garish for your mother?” Suzuki asked between laughs.
“Definitely,” Lily laughed, until she caught sight of her watch.
“GAH!” Lily exclaimed, “I’m going to be late!” Turning on her heels she shouted a quick good-bye and dashed out.

The next few days fused into months and before Lily knew it, it was almost time for her to graduate into eleventh grade. However, as exciting as it was for her to be ending a year, she also felt an acute sense of remorse for the fact that she would be leaving the hospital.

Their little game had lasted the whole year with each person learning something new about the other each day. Suzuki actually turned out to be just like any normal girl, that is, a normal girl suffering lymphoma. Suzuki had discovered that she had lymphoma about a year before she was admitted to the hospital Lily volunteered at. Her chances were exceptionally high, so she wasn’t as worried about surviving as she was worried about being able to go home for the summer. Lily had really felt bad for Suzuki then. However, at the same time she felt a selfish ting of relief that she did not need to go through that.

However, as they say every cloud has its silver lining. On the same day that Lily had her last shift at the hospital, Suzuki got released. Lily could still hear Suzuki’s whoops of laughter and Suzuki’s parents coming to pick her up. However, Suzuki would only leave if Lily would “pinky promise on her life” to come and visit her all the time. Lily, of course, had no qualms about that and agreed whole heartedly.
Now as Lily faced the candy stripped barber building with her shoulders stiff and her hands steady, like a soldier going to war, she recollected every proud moment she had in her life and reached towards the brass handle. Her time at the hospital had shown her that there were people going through so much that a bad haircut paled in comparison, quite considerably. It was time to face her one measly fear, Lily could do it.
“Well, aren’t you coming?” Lily started as she heard Suzuki.
The young dark haired girl was slouched against the door of the barber building.
Laughing, Lily took a long stride into the room. She wasn’t going to back down now.