They Laughed at My Mother’s Bald Head — So I Did the Only Thing a Child Could Do, and the Whole Street Went Silent

Two Bald Heads, One Morning Walk

We stepped outside together—two bright moons under one sky. People looked, of course. Some blinked. A boy laughed, then fell silent, ashamed. At the crosswalk, the lollipop man didn’t speak; he just lifted the sign a little higher and stood a little taller. I felt the wind brush my scalp. It didn’t feel like loss. It felt like truth.