No idea where it came from. Huh.

I felt that way about the last one.

Deb- I love your drabble above. Love "steepled" as an adjective.

Here's what flowed forth from my tired brain this afternoon.

Knots

My fingers sink into her hair and try to coax out the knots. Root to tip, root to tip, root to pause, untangle, tip. The brown curls curve into themselves, hide and seek around one another so I can't tell which tip belongs to which ribboned tangle. She is silent and sullen under my hands, tears leaking out of the corners of her eyes.

I am not hurting her, though she grimaces every time my finger snags.

She wants her hair to scream her defiance the way a good little girl cannot.

Deb, send clowns. My PC has been sasserwormed, I think, and my modem is doing a powerline dance between on and off. I keep losing my net connection on the laptop, but I'll read and get back to you as long as I'm up and flying.

I LOVE the knot drabble. It sounds like wedding vows, yeah? I said so in LJ.

Kristin, I love your knot drabble, too, especially the last line, as daughter to a mother who would never brook outright defiance, and who had to use passive agressive and alternate methods to assert my ego.

Word of advice for detangling, though. Never work root to tip. I speak as a lifelong dealer with cobwebby hair. It's less painful and damaging to work tip to root.

What Bev said, about the drabble. Joanna made herself responsible for her own hair early on, a huge relief for both of us; your drabble brought it home very clearly.

Sending clowns. There's a lot more than there was this morning. Nic thinks, and I think I agree with him, that the rhythm of the first four pages will have to be tightened up considerably, which is often the case in a story in which I don't hit my stride until midway.

Recieved, read, back to you. Yum! It's heating up.

Deb, insent.

Word of advice for detangling, though. Never work root to tip. I speak as a lifelong dealer with cobwebby hair. It's less painful and damaging to work tip to root.

Heh. Yes, I suspect you are right. Honestly, I wouldn't know as my own hair is so damn thin and slippery that it only knots if it has gotten wet and half-dried.

I'm glad you liked it.

Ginger, received with masses of thanks. And Bev, received, but without any sort of notes or attachment.

Off to cook. I can't write any more today; eye strain is setting in.

Stoopid apocalyptic clowns, anyway.

Stoopid apocalyptic clowns, anyway.

Sounds brilliant, in any case. All beta'd out?