BORROWED THOUGHTS

The Day Sensei Lost the Room

Animal House Vignette #53 | yawn

Photo by Daria Andriianova on Unsplash

A hairdresser first learns the room, then the hair.

That was the first lesson.

Not shampoo. Not scissors. Not color.

Air.

Who was important. Who was already finished. Who you could laugh with. Who you must never laugh at.

I learned that map before I learned any hairstyle.

She was at the top.

Nobody called her by name.

Sensei.

That was enough.

She collected national awards like some people collect coffee coupons. One photograph of hers changed the next season.

If Sensei said heavy hair was dead, heavy hair died.

If Sensei said ears must appear, ears suddenly appeared everywhere.

Technique was real.

Taste was real.

Hair grows back.

Trust does not.

The problem started after the scissors became quiet.

Sensei always talked.

Thirty minutes.

Sometimes an hour.

“I heard someone say on television…”

“I read this interesting thing on the internet…”

“A famous businessman was explaining…”

Words came one after another.

Always somebody else’s.

Sensei carried them carefully.

Sensei never unpacked one word of her own.

The first minute passed.

The second became long.

The third became skin.

The front row kept their eyes shining.

“So deep.”

“I learned so much.”

“Very Sensei.”

Sensei smiled.

That smile belonged to her.

Everything else had another owner.

About fifteen minutes later, the new assistant beside me covered her mouth.

Too late.

A yawn.

Small.

Almost polite.

Then the senior stylist.

The receptionist.

The photographer.

One yawn multiplied.

Only mouths opened.

Like invisible rain crossing the room.

Sensei kept talking.

She looked untouchable.

Then I understood.

A yawn is not infection of boredom.

A yawn is infection of honesty.

Nobody wanted to be the first honest person.

The new assistant simply forgot that rule.

Sensei kept talking.

Nobody heard another word.

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Note : Originally written in Japanese.