A New Hair Style

My father and his brother built homes on the same street; about four homes apart.  The brothers had a good relationship, but my mother and her sister-in-law hated each other.  They did not get along and wanted nothing to do with each other.  One reason for this antagonism was the different lifestyle of the two women.  M:y mother was completely family oriented and felt a responsibility for raising her own children.  The sister-in-law felt no responsibility at all for raising her children.  Her major interest in life was her friends and playing bridge most of the day with these friends.  So several times a week she would instruct her three children (two boys and a girl) to "go play with Glen."  She never made previous arrangements with my mother; her children just showed up at our door and in most cases had not even been fed breakfast.  My mother was such a kind-heart.ed person she would never turn children away.

One morning, just the little girl (age 3) arrived at our front door.  I was delighted because it gave me someone to play with.  I had just received a small pair of scissors and sometime during the day decided that a good game to play would be "barber".  Since I owned the scissors I was the barber. This little girl had beautiful long hair that reached almost to her shoulders.  When we finished playing barber she was almost bald.

My, what an explosion. When the mother returned home that afternoon she stormed over to our home and screamed at my mother, "You did not protect and take care of my daughter. She is almost bald and I'm going to sue you."  My mother just smiled and said, "Since you feel that way I will not tend your children anymore in the future."  Don't send them to my house because I won't let them in."  The sister-in-law suddenly realized that she had just lost a free baby sitter.  She started to "cool down"  but my mother just shut the door.  I don't recall my mother ever speaking to this sister-in-law again.