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"Yes"

"Because I was a little worried I know hair’s a big deal for women"

"And not forit, but we don’t care what it looks like We don’t even row back"

"And you will notoff all of yours now?"

"No, of course not"

"Then neither will I" Snip! "There, Evan I think that is as et off with the scissors" She ran her hand through the mound of hair on the floor in front of her "Well? You are the one ill have to look at me How does it look?"

All she needed was a safety pin through her cheek and she could pass for a punk rock star "It looks unfinished," I said, "and it’ll be better when I’ve shaved it all off But it’s not so bad" I nodded at the mirror "Have a look for yourself"

"Why not? It is just hair It is not irow back" Then she fell silent as she looked in the mirror

Then she burst into tears

Her hair was fine and soft, and offered little resistance to the razor When I’d finished, she looked again into themoment she was silent

Then she said, "Do I look like a man? I don’t think so, Evan I don’t look like a woman, but neither do I look like a man I look like soetting used to," I said I picked up the scissors, then turned to her "I don’t know," I said "Maybe this is a bad idea Suppose I just turn myself in What can they do tome So they’ll slap me around a little and kick me out of the country Hell, I’ve been thrown out of better places than this"

"Evan, please-"

"So maybe that’s what I’ll do," I said "How about you? You’ll be all right, won’t you?" I held up a hand "Hey, I’," she said "That is why the scissors are still in your hand Otherwise they would be in your heart"

"Uh," I said

"My ears are large," she said "I never realized this before I have large ears"

"Your ears are beautiful"

"They were better when one did not see so much of them Suddenly I have ears like a bat And look at the shape ofwith the shape of your head?"

"I don’t knoas never so aware of it before, the shape ofelse" She patted at her skull, fra it with her hands "It is s ears"

"It just looks that way because you’re used to it with hair"

"Of course I am Evan, we should have made love before I did this When I was still beautiful"

"You’re beautiful now"

"You don’t have to say that I will get over this, Evan I a to it This is just part of the process of adjustment"

"I understand"

"Anyway," she said, "ill travel light, yes? Noat my own close-cropped skull If a barber had done this to ht, I’d kill him It would be better once I shaved it, I told myself And then I re

"No mirrors," I said "Count on it"

With our hair scissored off we’d looked like victiain With our heads shaved, we just looked weird

In our new robes, we looked like monks

Or did we? It was hard to tell, even as it was hard to wrap oneself properly in the dark red cloth It was probably the first thing you learned at monk school, horap the set of three cloths so that they covered everything they were supposed to cover and wouldn’t fall open at an inopportune moment They all seemed to kno to do it, even the small boys, but there had to be a trick to it, because we didn’t see of it

"Don’t wrap the outer robe too tight across your chest," I advised Katya "It makes you look, uh-"

"Like a woman," she said, and adjusted the drape of the robe "All my life," she said, "I felt that my breasts were too se Should I bind therown"

"To flatten the of Chinese wo their feet"

"I don’t think they do that anymore, Evan"

"No, of course not But should you try to flatten them? I don’t know Let me see"

She opened the robe

"I just meant let me look at you in profile, Katya I didn’t ht you wanted to see them"

"Well, I suppose I did," I said "But that’s not what I meant My God"