George decided to perm his hair the night before the wedding. It was getting long and shaggy, quite like it had been in his younger, surfing days. His bride-to-be would have preferred if he just cut it, but then, his bride-to-be would prefer a lot of things, namely that she didn’t have to marry him.
He decided to do a simple home perm, eight dollars and straight out of the box. But there was nothing to use to curl it! George was less than thrilled about going back to the department store to buy curlers, but then it would be all worth it when he got the results. Six dollars later the long, aggravating process began.
His little bride Alice sat on his bed, duct-tape over her mouth. Her eyes were wide and blue, and he smiled back at her and gave her the thumbs up. She kicked her feet, no good since they were bound together with one of his old, long-sleeved shirts, her shoulders wrapped back against the backboard of his bed.
Alice was a pretty girl. George met her in church that Sunday just before Easter. She was a choir girl, beautiful in her long, white robes. Her hair, deep blonde and curled, had hung lightly on her shoulders. Her voice was inaudible about the rest, but her face shone pure and bright, and George loved her. More importantly, George wanted her.
He’d seen her talking to a young boy after church. Fourteen or fifteen, he must have been about her age. He was tall and tanned, and more importantly his hair was longish and tightly curled in tiny ringlets. The two were standing behind the church, and suddenly the little lad leaned down and kissed Alice, right on the lips.
George decided to perm his hair the night before the wedding. After clubbing that little curly-haired bastard and dragging Alice away from the church, shoving her in the back of his car and driving away, he’d decided that he had to. Alice only liked curly-haired men, he realized. And he would do anything for his little child bride.
It came out great. The ringlets were tiny like the young man’s, and before he went to her bed to ravage her, he took a picture of his smiling face. Little Alice would love him now. She had to. The room smelled of bitter chemicals and his scalp was burning, but if that was what it took to win her, he would do it.
He would do anything for Alice. He would give her the moon. She knew that now.
Definately not liking George.
