You were told I’d look different from when you last saw me, but I can tell you weren’t expecting how different. Like a Chia pet, you said. Your fingers reached up and teased me. Come on, you can do better than that! I had to endure daily inspections, your careful comb. There was still nothing to comb. Then you saw a hint of auburn and then curls! How did this happen? Different indeed! Compliments of Taxol, you joked. You smiled. You shoved the wig in the closet and the scarves in the drawer and showed me off to the world.

Susan Israel’s

fiction is published in Hawaii Review, Other Voices, and Vignette, and she has written for magazines, websites, and newspapers, including Girls Life, Glamour, Ladies Home Journal, and The Washington Post. She is a graduate of Yale University.

Author’s website: https://www.susanisrael.net/