To Jerry, the biggest admirer
of red-haired women I know
Stranded
When
I saw the newspaper article, and the picture with it, I was interested
immediately. In the picture was a woman who was worshipped somewhere on
an island by the inhabitants as a goddess. The author had interviewed
her and expressed his astonishment about the length of the woman’s hair.
“A fiery wealth of hair envelops the volcano princess of the island of
Tanonka”, said the corresponding text.
I
knew that woman. Once she had been my roommate and I think it’s time I
start telling our story. By the way, my name is Paula.
*
* *
I
first met Joan when I went to college. The male population usually referred
to her as ‘John’, because she wore her thin brown hair extremely short.
I had never seen a woman with such an almost non-existing hair-do. And
I must tell you my own hair wasn't very abundant either since it too was
rather thin, which kept me from growing it. Once I had tried to grow it
out, but when it finally reached my shoulders it stopped, my ears stuck
through and it looked ratty, so I got it cut again.
Joan
wasn't very popular with the men because of her crew cut although she
was a pretty woman. And I didn't have much luck either since most guys
preferred a woman with hair they could loose their hands in. And those
who liked shorthaired women already found one.
It
didn’t take long before Joan and I became good friends and as could have
been expected, we were soon referred to as ‘John and Paul’. And yes, a
lot of people started asking if George and Ringo would visit any time
soon.
Anyway,
after our first year we decided it was time to take some leave of all
the smart remarks and we booked a trip to a tropical paradise. The first
part of the journey went well, but the charter to our destination got
lost in a storm somewhere above the ocean. I remember the pilot crying
out: "Everyone, fasten your seatbelts!" and down we went. With
a heavy splash the plane landed on the surface of the water, the inflatable
lifeboats were released, and every passenger and crewmember jumped in
them. Joan and I were the only ones to share a boat among us. As if our
crash wasn't bad enough we found no paddles on board. And so we started
drifting away from the others.
Rapidly
the other boats disappeared from sight and actually, we didn't have much
time to worry about that, because the storm beat our little lifesaver
continuously, filling it with water. With great effort we kept it from
sinking and finally the storm dissipated.
We
looked around for land but for hours there was nothing there. Then suddenly
I saw something shimmering at the horizon. While using our hands as paddles
we slowly approached the island where we likely would be forced to stay
for quite a while.
Exhausted
we went on land where we found some shade and fell asleep. When I woke
up the sun was just setting; Joan was still asleep. A sudden flash of
pain in my stomach told me it was high time to find something to eat.
I started looking around for eatable things, but all I saw were trees
that were not bearing fruit. However, I could make a spear from the branch
of a tree and try to catch us some fish. I walked over to the trees, found
what I had in mind and started looking for something to sharpen the end
of the branch. I finally found a sharp stone when I heard a voice calling
my name. Joan had woken up.
I
went back to her and told her what I had been up to. "Well,"
she said energetically, "let's go for it then. Let's catch us some
fish," and immediately she began to work on the stick. It wasn’t
long before she had finished, we walked to the ocean and went in. Fortunately,
the first couple of yards weren't very deep and it was rather easy to
catch some fish in the clear knee-deep water. I've never been much of
a fish eater but they tasted great, I must say.
Since
it seemed probable that we could be 'crusoed' for some time, we decided
to scout the island. It was bigger than we imagined and it took us almost
two days to walk around it before returning to our starting point. The
third day we started to investigate the inland, my, what an island. No,
it was paradise. We discovered all kinds of trees and bushes, and the
obvious waterfall. Isn't there always a waterfall on islands like these?
And we found a village! The people were very friendly and some of them
even happened to speak English. Our best friend became a man who introduced
himself as Grudo.
He
told us that every two weeks a boat from the main land brought mail and
supplies they didn’t have on the island. When he told us this, Grudo smiled
and said with his funny accent: “You didn’t think we were isolated here,
did you? We are familiar with all those Western inventions, but we don’t
have need for them.”
No
radio, no television, or other things that made a lot of noise. We really
had landed in paradise! Joan and I enjoyed our stay and soon started participating
in daily activities. The women on the island were exactly as could be
expected on a tropical island like this. They wore long thick black hair,
usually to their waist, sometimes even longer.
Joan
sometimes sighed: “Wish I had hair like that. Let’s hope it’s something
in the air that makes it like that.”
“Keep
on dreaming,” I replied. “We will never have such great hair.”
Was
I mistaken!
*
* *
A
few days after we arrived, Joan, who always was alert on a great head
of hair, noticed that among the young women there was something changing.
She pointed at a woman we had talked to a day earlier and I saw she was
right. The woman’s hair had grown at least a foot and had a remarkable
auburn shine over it.
“There
absolutely must be something in the air;” Joan said. “Look, I’m sure it
has even gotten thicker!”
As
we looked around, we noticed that the hair on the young women of the entire
village had grown quite a bit and the color had turned a bit reddish.
So we asked Grudo about it.
He
told us that two weeks earlier their volcano princess had died, and now
that the time for mourning had passed, they were looking for a successor.
The successor would be a woman who could grow at least 50 yards of hair
within two weeks before she could become princess. They had encountered
a problem, however. Grudo had shaken his head and added that none of the
young women could grow it fast enough.
The
secret of the hair growth was in a specific fruit that only grew on that
particular island. When Grudo told us this I saw a twinkle in Joan’s eye.
“Grudo,”
she said, “are we entitled to participate? After all, we’ve been here
for some days now and have been doing our part in the community.”
“I
will ask our chief,” he replied.
Grudo
went away, but within a few minutes he had returned. With him he had some
older women with baskets full of orange fruit about the size of apples.
“As
you can see,” he said, “you are allowed to participate, but I wonder if
you can catch up with the other women.”
We
started eating and after half an hour we had consumed four baskets of
fruit. They tasted great and we asked for more. When we finally couldn’t
eat more we had consumed eight baskets of it.
The
next morning I woke up with a hungry feeling in my stomach and excited
sounds that came from Joan. At first I was a little disoriented, but then
I saw her shadow against the light that fell through the door. I couldn’t
believe my eyes, but when I looked closer I knew I hadn’t been mistaken.
Joan was sitting on the ground brushing a full mane of hair that hung
all the way down to her bottom! I shook my head, just to feel my own hair
brushing my shoulders. I touched it, it felt great, thick and soft. And
when I tried to estimate its length I found that it had grown to almost
waist-length.
We
left our cabin and as soon as Joan stepped into the sunlight the light
auburn color of her hair, that I could see now had grown overnight to
her ankles, told me the fruit had worked miracles. She looked great and
from the look of it she felt great too.
Joan
turned around, her hair fanning out, and said: “It works. I must have
more of this fruit, I’m going to stay here forever.”
When
Grudo saw us, transformed into longhaired beauties, he immediately knew
they had found their new volcano princess.
“O,
miss Joan,” as he always called her, “you look fantastic. Hair all the
way to the ground.”
I
first thought he was exaggerating, but then I noticed the ends of Joan’s
hair indeed were lying on the ground. In a few minutes time it had grown
over a foot. And hers wasn’t the only one. When I wanted to sit down,
a sudden pull at my hair told me it had grown passed my bottom. I took
it in my hands and felt that it was getting thicker and heavier, while
the deep auburn had turned a few shades lighter.
Joan’s
hair grew faster and was a brighter red than mine and when she ate more
fruit the speed increased so much that we actually could see it grow and
get lighter still. I ate some pieces of fruit, hoping I could catch up
with her, but although my hair reached floor-length within a few minutes,
Joan started to slowly disappear under her ever-increasing mane.
The
young women of the village came from all sides, with their own, mostly,
ankle-length auburn hair flowing behind them, to bring the new volcano
princess to her throne on the temple place. When Joan sat down they draped
her hair around her like hot lava from a volcano. It vibrated as it grew
and grew.
*
* *
By
the time the ship came to the island to bring supplies and pick me up,
Joan’s hair was covering a big part of the temple place. It was absolutely
impossible to guess its length but I think it must have reached at least
100 yards in length. Since I had stopped eating the fruit, the growth
of my hair had slowly returned to a normal rate. Nevertheless, it had
reached a length of about 8 feet. Like Joan’s it had become a flaming
red and very thick, and it made me feel great.
The
moment we said goodbye was very emotional. We both knew Joan wouldn’t
return with me, much as she was immobilized by the enormous mount of hair
around her, and her apparent unwillingness to cut it back to a more manageable
length. She didn’t want to go back to all those teasing guys at college,
who would likely experience a miraculous change of heart when seeing ‘John’
covered in beautiful red hair (her eyes got cold when she said this).
We hugged and I left.
As
I boarded the ship, I for the first time experienced the feeling that
people were looking at me. The crewmembers were watching me breathlessly
as I passed by, my long thick red hair draped over my arm to keep it from
the ground.
*
* *
And
now I was looking at Joan’s picture in the newspaper. Everyday the women
of the village helped her brushing, and carrying it around as she went
for a walk.
I
knew she didn’t have to eat the fruit anymore, because I didn’t and my
hair had kept its beautiful shine and thickness. A few weeks after I got
home I did have it trimmed back to ankle-length though, so I could wear
it down, and it’s perfect for me.
As Joan had predicted, the guys in college had a sudden change of mind about me, but I simply ignored them. I did get a boyfriend, however, a guy whom has never seen me with short hair and never will. This wealth of flaming red, long hair will stay forever.