TF (mythological)

There was a part of me that still couldn’t believe I was going through with this. I was a nice girl. I didn’t swear, I’d never get piercings or a tattoo. Yet from the time I’d seen a picture of a woman with Medusa dreads, I’d been obsessed. And now, now I was getting them.

I arrived too early for my appointment at the hair salon, of course. I’d had to go sit in a cafe nearby for half an hour. The coffee probably hadn’t done much for my nerves, which were jangling as I approached the door of the salon.

It was dark inside. The walls were painted black, and between mirrors were hung posters for bands I’d never heard of. “Bring Me the Horizon”? “Against Me!”? “Brand New”? Who were these people?

“You okay there?” a woman called. She was in her thirties, dressed in a black singlet and jeans. A full sleeve tattoo took up her left arm, and she had cheek piercings. I thought for a second about just turning and walking back out. Instead I said, “Um, hey. I’m Cassidy? I have an appointment? One o’clock?”

“Oh hey, right. Medusa dreads, yeah? I’m Lindy,” the woman grinned. “You’ve got good hair for ‘em. I’m looking forward to it. I’ve done ‘em a few times before and it’s always fun.”

“Great,” I said.

“You understand what we’re gonna do? We give you dreads, then you take this magic potion and they turn into snakes. It’ll take a few hours, and Nat, the other hairdresser, will be helping, so we’ll do them in tag team style. She’s just at lunch and she’ll be back in a few minutes.”

“Okay, cool.” My whole body felt like it was vibrating and every molecule screamed “can we just get on with it!”

“You want coffee? Tea? I’ve got iced tea. Beer too, although it’s a bit early for that.”

“Iced tea would be great.”

“Music? Let’s have some music while we do it. Any suggestions?”

My mind went blank. “Uh, you got any Carrie Underwood?”

Lindy laughed. “Nope, no Carrie Underwood, I’m afraid. But how about Lucinda Williams?” She flicked at the iPod on the sales counter and a whisky-soaked voice rasped away. Did you only love me for those three days … . It sounded much rougher than the usual country music I listened to, but good.

“Take a seat,” Lindy said. “We don’t need to wash your hair, it’s fine for dreads. Hey, here’s Nat.”

Nat turned out to be a slim girl with pink hair and a ring bisecting her lip. Her hair was done up in a ponytail, showing off her ears, which had big holes in them. She looked sullen but turned out to be quite sweet.

“So let’s get to work,” Lindy announced. “We’re gonna use the rip and twist method. As I said, it’s gonna take some time.”

And they began. As I sat in the chair, first Lindy and then Nat went to work on my hair. They would section off a little bit, rip it, twist it, then go to another. It was time-consuming; I was soon totally bored, but the music — after Lucinda Williams Lindy played Old 97s, Jayhawks, and other countryish (but not too countryish) bands — kept me going. I made her write down everything she’d played afterwards.

As the afternoon wore on I was fascinated by what I saw in the mirror. I was getting dreads. My long hair was gradually turning into coils of dreads. I hadn’t really thought much about getting dreadlocks — I was more interested in the snakes — but as I gradually became a dreaded girl I decided I liked the look. No, I loved it! It was so different for me. I mean, it was so NOT me. And that made it all the more exciting.

“Okay, done,” Lindy announced, stepping back from the chair. I couldn’t stop grinning at the dreads falling over my shoulders. They were quite thin and very long. I looked like a completely different person.

“Like them?”

Like them? “I love them!”

“We can leave them as dreads if you want.”

I was tempted for a second, but … “Nah, let’s do the snakes.”

Nat was already fetching a bottle from a back room. It contained a greenish fluid that seemed to swirl and sparkle.

“We’ll just put a little bit in your iced tea,” she said. “You don’t need much for the transformation.”

Nervously I held up the glass of tea and she let a little glob of the fluid drop in. For a second it hung cloudily in the drink before vanishing.

Lindy and Nat looked at me expectantly.

“Okay, bottoms up!” I said, and I downed the entire thing.

I’m not sure what I was expecting. An explosion, maybe. Or a boing. A zap. Smoke. A light. Something.

But there was nothing. Except that one second I had dreads, and the next second I had snakes.

Snakes all over my head. Their bodies brown, their eyes yellow, their forked tongues flicking in and out.

Snakes attached to my head. To my skull. To my scalp.

Nat laughed. “They’re alive, alive!”

Lindy grinned. “I told you, it’s always fun.”

I stared at my reflection. My face, pale with wonder, and the writhing mound of long snakes that surrounded them.

I felt something go through me, almost like an orgasm. I had been changed, and it was incredible. I was a new woman.

I was a Medusa. Except, of course, I couldn’t turn people to stone. Well, not literally, anyway. But oh man, was I going to make heads turn.

There was a nest of snakes that was part of me now. I felt so much love for each of them. But they were getting quite excited.

“How do I calm them down?” I asked.

“Just try to relax. Remember, they’re part of you. You can make them go to sleep if you want.”

I closed my eyes and thought calming thoughts — or tried to. It seemed to work and the snakes grew quiet then still. When I opened my eyes again their eyes were closed. I shook my head slightly and they swung from side to side, but gave no indication they were even alive.

“Remember,” said Lindy, “you have total control over them, and how active they are. Just tell them what you want them to do.”

“And make sure you put them to sleep before you go to bed,” said Nat. “They can be a bit ticklish if you don’t.”

Lindy laughed. “Yeah, Nat had the snakes last year.”

Nat smiled sheepishly. “I didn’t keep them long. My girlfriend was freaked out by them.”

“Not a problem for me,” I said. “I don’t have a partner.”

“I bet you will soon. A lot of guys are fascinated by Medusas,” Lindy said. “Now, how about a beer?”

We had several beers before I paid them (adding a big tip) and left, putting on a hat I’d stuffed into my bag. I wasn’t quite ready to reveal myself in public yet.

But oh man, I couldn’t want to get home and out of my clothes. I had a strong urge to strip totally. To see my naked self.

And then … then I was going to wake up my snakes.