A day in the life of a wigmaker

My name is Elizabeth Williams and I am a wigmaker. Every day I wake up when the warm orange sun rises above the tall green grass. I get out of my bed and walk into my children’s room to make sure they are ok. Poor little Johnny has been having horrific nightmares lately. I smell the buttery biscuits that aunt Katherine had brought over early this morning. I am in the middling class so having warm honey biscuits was a treat for me. I put on my dress and my off-white bonnet that I had made by myself. Its a floral, cotton dress that smells of powder and dye that has stained it. My husband, John, has left for work already and aunt Katherine will come over later to take care of the kids.

I walk down the cobblestone road until i get to the wig shop. The wig shop is small with many shelves displaying the different styles of wigs I make. Lace curtains hang over the windows and the light shins right through it. I smell the faint scent of old English tea and I hear the water being poured into the bath tub upstairs. I walk in and an a new apprentice in sitting on the corner chair. My chair. She sees me and tells me her name in Samantha. She smiles. I smile back. I don’t exactly like training new apprentices but it’s part of my job so I must make Samantha the very best she can be.  I start to get to work on the wigs as a lady with her daughter walks in. “Hello,” the old lady says, “Good day ma’am,” I reply. “I need you to shave my daughter’s head and fit her for a wig,” the old lady says, “Mother…I don’t want to shave my head!” The daughter exclaims. The older lady looked annoyed, like this isn’t the first time she’s complained. “It must be done.” she says. I sit the girl down and bring the razor to her head.She winces as I take the first part off.  When I’m done, I tell them that they can leave and pick up her wig in a week. As she and her mother walks out the door slams and I was glad I didn’t have to hear the fight that was about to happen. I tell Samantha to start to carve the block head. After I will make the wig by sewing hair onto mesh. I do this everyday and many times it gets boring but I must help my family survive in this hard world we live in.

I walk back down the street to my house. The yellow color of the sun and the bright blue sky has now turned dark.  I yawn and blink slowly as my torn shoes make a scratching noise on the bumpy road. I will almost be to my house, I know I wont get much sleep but I pretend I will. When I open the door to my small house I tip toe up to my room, careful not to wake the younger children. The floor boards makes a creaking noise, like it’s reminding me that it’s getting old.  I take off my apron and my dress that I wear almost every day. I feel too tired to do anything else but I still walk in too each of my children’s room and kiss them all on the cheek and say, “Good night my wonderful babies.”  And as I drift asleep I know this day will continue to repeat.