Helmet Hair?
in the olden days when I was very young
in the olden days when I had hair and a waist
my hair grew to my pass my waist
Whenever we went across the border to the Northern States
we’d strap our lid’s to our bikes and ride bare naked!
We were all brave and crazy in those days
But it always came to pass
that I would ended up
with a matt of hair
at the back of my head
something closely resembling
a rather large fur ball.
One summer we attended a swap meet
It was outside of Minneapolis
and the riding that weekend
caused my hair to get so badly matted
that I’d tried for hours to get it out
and by the evening
while we were sitting around the campfire
I had gone so far
as to borrow a buck knife
because I was quite sure
that I was gonna have to
cut it all off
You can imagine my emotions….
from the next campsite
comes this little elderly Indian lady
she takes me by the hand
and leads me off to the shower cabin
she fills the sink with warm water
and she pulls a little brown bottle
with a cork stopper
out of her medicine bag
and pours it in the basin
I am immediately encompassed
Enveloped in the smell of flowers
I feel an overwhelming calm settle over me
And I am truly touched by this woman
sharing her ancient secrets with me
she bends me over and soaks my hair in the basin
and almost immediately
I can run my fingers thru my hair!
she smiles and leaves
never having said a word…
I wander back to my campsite
feeling completely satisfied
and full of the wonder of mother nature…
and sisterhood
and love
as I arrive back at the campsite
one of the ladies from Minneapolis
speaks to me…
“I see you met Old Sally…”
“the elderly native woman?” says I…
“how did ya know?”
“oh I knew it” she said…
“cos you smell like Downy Fabric Softner!”