The next morning, after Mason was done opening and cleaning Mr. Robinson's shop, he got outside and found Nana already waiting for him.
"Good morning, and don't expect me to ask if you'd slept well because I know you did," she said, sounding like someone looking for a reason to start an early morning fight.
"How can you be sure, silly girl?"
"You slept past breakfast."
"I didn't, I woke up unusually early today. I've cleaned daddy's workshop already."
Nana stared at him for a while, as if thinking of her next word, then she shrugged.
"Mom said I should give you a wig, should you want to go out, but I'd rather not," she said finally.
"Of course you wouldn't. You'd prove the stubborn girl you are."
Nana curled her lips into a smug grin. "Fair enough, I wouldn't want to ruin our plan with one stupid wig. Now come on, let's go have breakfast." She led Mason to the family residence, and they began to have their meal in almost silence until…
"I presume you wouldn't need me to teach you how to play a Playboy. You have the look, the eyes, and the–"
"Let's just eat in silence, Nana. I reread the book last night. I'm well prepared," Mason cut in, his voice almost mumbling with pasta in his mouth.
"Practice the look with me and the magic word," Nana said in a mouthful. She dropped her cutlery and leaned forward toward Mason on the dining table.
Mason let out a deep breath and leaned in as well, his eyes locking onto Nana's. "You're beautiful, and I like you. Would you mind being the Queen of my castle?" he said.
But Nana remained quiet, her eyes bulging out of their sockets.
"Damn Nana! What a mess!" Mason shouted, jerking her back to reality. Only then did she see the mess she'd caused. She'd absently emptied her mouth on the table.
"I'm sorry," Nana said as she hastily cleaned up. "I believe you're good to go. And I think what Mom said earlier was true; those eyes, they're… they're–"
"Enough, I don't want to hear you, of all people, say that," Mason cut in. "Now let's eat and leave, the sun will be up soon."
Nana rolled her eyes and grabbed her cutlery, her grumbles filling the air like the buzz of swarms of bees. Mason wasn't meant to be harsh; he'd simply noticed Mr. Robinson from the corner of his eye, silently eavesdropping on their conversation.
Just then, the man made his presence known, pretending to be just coming from his room. He stared at Mason, who greeted him, waved his hand, and then left for his workshop.
After eating, Mason went back to his room and dressed up in one of the clothes he'd purchased the previous day. A red t-shirt, long black pants, and the same pair of sneakers he'd worn the previous day. It'd be suffocating to wear a heavy coat when he knew how unfair the weather would be in the next few hours.
As he stepped out of his room, his gaze fell on Mr. Robinson at his working space. When he noticed Mason's presence, he wanted to call him, but then two customers arrived and he quickly attended to them.
Mason got outside the shop, and there stood Nana, waiting for him. As she set her eyes on him, she let out a wide grin.
"You look good. And the outfits - simple," she said, and she led the way.
Mason smiled a bit, then followed. They're about twenty feet or so away from their house when Nana suddenly halted on her track.
You can't go anywhere without a wig!
Nana turned to Mason, her brows furrowed. "Did you hear that?" she asked.
"Sounded like mom's voice."
"It can't be. Both of us can't be hallucinating at the same time."
"I told you not to let him go out without a wig, Nana!" The voice came once more, now clear and near. Both Mason and Nana turned in the direction the voice came from and saw Mrs. Robinson approaching from the direction of the bridge.
"Mom!?" they said in unison.
"What are you doing here, Mom?"
"What am I doing at my own house?"
"I mean… you're supposed to be at work. Why did you leave the hospital?"
"Because I know you're obstinate. You wouldn't do what I asked you to."
"You came all the way from the hospital to make me wear a wig?"
"Shut up, Mason, we'd talk 'bout it yesterday!"
"But…"
"There's no but, Mason. I'm doing this to protect you."
"Protect me from what?"
"What are you protecting him from, Mom?"
Mrs. Robinson sighed. "I wouldn't talk more about this. You must never break your promise to me," she said and went inside. A few seconds later, she returned with a long brown wig that might have reached her shoulder if she wore it. As she approached Mason, she placed it on his head.
"Now you look more protected."
What!? Protected by a wig? You can't be serious! Mason grumbled within himself.
Satisfied, Mrs. Robinson nodded, patted Mason on the chest, and left. And as if there's a hard metal on her hand, Mason winced as he felt a sharp pain where she'd patted him.
He and Nana watched as she disappeared into the distance, then they let out a collective groan.
"Why did she even have a wig in the first place?" Mason said. "Her hair is always long."
"I agreed with your last word," Nana admitted. "That hair on her head right now might be cut before the end of the day. Too much hair suffocates her. And in the next few weeks, at most, a month, her head would be overgrown again."
"Is that why she wore a turban sometimes?"
"Yes, do you remember when mom and dad fought, mostly at night?"
"I don't think I remember them fighting; they hardly do."
"Yes, but they do argue once or twice in a month, and their voices always fill the atmosphere."
Mason nodded.
"I remember, why did they fight then?" he asked.
"It's because Dad calls her a monk."
Mason's face contorted in a grimace. "A monk? Why would he call her such a name? Does it reach that extent?"
"Yes, she shaves off everything whenever she's uncomfortable. She doesn't leave a strand standing."
"Wow!"
"Wow? Imagine waking up tomorrow morning and seeing my head shaved and sparkling under the light, how would you feel?"
"Disgusted," Mason frowned. "You'd better not do that."
"Why would I? Dad finds it disgusting when Mom shaves. So when mom… you know. When she wants to… Dad would feel disgusted and push her away."
Mason turned to Nana, tilting his head to understand what she was omitting from her words. "When mom wants to… what?" he pressed.
"I don't know!" Nana said, unable to muster a worthy retort for such a stupid question. "If you don't understand, then forget it!"
Just then, two men passed by, their gazes trained on Mason.
"She's pretty, isn't she?" one of them said almost in a whisper.
"Yeah, but gat no bwess and ass. What's the use of a pretty face with neither?" the other replied.
"Damn, just a little of those features woulda gone a long way."
"Hmm, by the look of it, my ass is bigger than hers."
"Heaven knows how they share the gifts for the lasses; some gat big bwesses but no ass. Some gat the ass but no bwess. Some pretty, like her– but… nothing. Aren't the heavens cruel?"
"Yah, forget those gat both bwess and ass yet a little prettier than monkeys?"
The men turned back by the movement they heard and flinched when they saw Nana following them, her glare unnerving.
"She's a boy!" she declared.
The men exchanged glances, then snorted.
"Boy? Dream on!" one said.
"Never wanna accept reality," the other added as they continued.
"Nana! You're not helping," Mason said.
"What now!?"
"What you said earlier," Mason replied. "She's a what?"
"Boy! Oh, I must be out of my mind!" Nana said as she held her forehead in realization.
"I'm going inside! No longer in the mood to go out!" Mason said and stomped away.
Nana followed, attempting to convince him he could take off the wig when they got far from home. But Mason had already made up his mind.
The rest of the day went uneventfully, until at night, when Mason was about to sleep, he took off his shirt, only to see his necklace hanging on his neck. His mind immediately raced back to the pain he'd felt when Mrs. Robinson patted him on the chest earlier.
"What the hell!?"
To be sure he wasn't hallucinating, Mason grabbed the necklace and put it off his neck to inspect it. To his utter dismay, it's the same as the one he'd sold two days ago; the one he'd grown up with.
"It's back! It's fucking back!" he almost yelled.
My necklace is back!