Helmet Hair


She complains that the safety helmet messes her hair up, and that the bright yellow coverall makes her look stupid.

I put the hard hat on her and pull down the visor jokingly, saying, "Are you wearing the helmet, or is the helmet wearing you, Ain?" and laugh heartily.

She scowls like a little girl. "Bapak! My hair!"

She pulls out a compact hairbrush and tussle a few locks down by the side to get the wavy volume back.

Technicians sitting across from us try to get a better look at her, but then look away when I spot them.

"How is your supervisor treating you?"

She mumbles an expression from underneath the hair.

"Do you get to do the engineering study that they do?"

She looks up at me and sighs heavily, "All I do everyday is read manuals."

I nod a little and then sip my coffee.

"Well, Ain, before they let you do the big stuff, you need to learn all the small boring stuff."

She ties up her hair into a low ponytail and puts colorful pins at the back to secure the rest.

"If you need help with anything, go see Uncle Phillip at the Library. He's a friend of mine."

A few young executives enter the canteen and walk past our table, scrounging in loud herds for a late, lazy breakfast. I make eye contact with those I know and those I have worked for - raising my hand, smiling cheerily. They see me and my daughter, a trainee, sitting together, and then they smile back.

"Come on, finish your drink. I have to go down to the plant and fix this leaking pump seal."

She finishes her teh tarik in a big gulp.

A light mist of foam slathers on her lips.

I reach for a napkin to wipe it off her, but she stops me and she says it's okay, she's got it.

As I'm about to get up, she picks up her hard hat and holds my arm, asking, "Can I come?"

I look at her and all I can see is my five-year old princess asking me for an ice cream treat.

"No, sayang."

I pull her up from the chair and take away her hard hat.

"I want you to do the assignment your supervisor gave you, and then you show me tonight. Okay?"

She sulks, and gives me her childish lemon-sucking face.

Her ponytail bobs along as she walks away in her boots.

Author's notes - Written this morning at the workplace. The idea came on when I was having breakfast at the canteen, kopi tarik and roti bakar, whilst watching this father and daughter pair.

One of those rare, spontaneous short stories that gets published immediately. Usually I would write it up and put it aside in the Draft folder and leave it for weeks or months and occasionally look at it from time to time to see if I could find anything wrong or gay or stupid about it so that I could then delete it.

This one does not get that treatment.

Photo is by N Ilmi M Yunus, and it doesn't have a name - so, I named it 'Leaving Paradise on a Boat'.

Style of writing - inspired by Ernest Hemingway's short story titled 'Hills Like White Elephants' (1927).