text: A young boy and a slightly older girl are sitting on a burgandy shag carpet in a dim, fire lit room by it’s mantle. Behind each of them sits a brown leather chair, and outside it is dark and storming. The young boy had just finished a story. “It reminds me of Ina and the demon.” Says the young girl. “Surely you’ve heard the tale in classes haven’t you?” The boy shakes his head in response. “Oh. Well then, let me tell it to you. Ina was a young girl who longed so badly to be beautiful that she spent hours during the day every morning in order to make her hair look spectacular, because she wanted the prettier girls at school to notice her. And her hair *did* look spectacular. About 300 days out of the year. However on the other 65 it rained, and when it rained it frazzled Ina’s hair. And Ina did not like frazzled hair. Though nobody else seemed to mind. Their hair all got frazzled as well. Despite this Ina decided she hated the rain, and that she would do anything in her power to protect her hair on those days. “Then one day Ina met a demon-- “--and the Demon promised she could give Ina perfect hair every day--which of course included the rainy days. The demon only offered one catch, and that is that Ina must never ever be allowed to sleep over at a friend’s house. Ina agreed blindly and their deal had been made. “Now every morning the demon sends a chariot to Ina’s bedroom door, which will escort her from her home to the pavilion at school, which is covered. Ina was elated and surprised to find it outside her room on the first day of rain. She felt especially powerful when the girls at school started noticing her perfectly curly hair--despite the rain. When they would ask how she had done it she would just chuckle coyly and say ‘it’s my little secret.’ “Well one day a girl named Minnie invited Ina over to her parents’ house for her birthday. Minnie is the most popular girl in school, and *every*body was going to be there. Ina desperately wanted to attend. She told Minnie that she could come but she couldn’t stay over, which Minnie seemed unimpressed by. Ina felt startled by her possible lowering of status, and she amended that she *might* be able to stay over, depending on her parents, to which Minnie smiled and said, “Great!” Ina was feeling particularly high that day, until she met her demon in the chariot heading home. “You are not allowed to stay over at other little girls houses Ina. If you do, I can no longer protect you...” There was a pause and the demon thought. “Correction, I *will* no longer protect you. Do not break this deal, Ina.” And this frightened Ina severely and made her contemplate her next move. “The demon did not show up the rest of the week and Ina contemplated the decision quite studiously, and what she decided she'd go to the party and fake sick to leave early. Well the day came, and an hour into the party Ina knew she didn’t want to leave. Everybody was having so much fun. They were all laughing and playing games. The activities went on into the night, and before Ina knew it, she felt exhausted beyond belief. She decided half out of boldness and half out of fear to test her luck and stay the night, in order to maintain status. “Well at midnight, all the girls chanted that she be the first to play make up, wear the other girls make up each other’s faces. They wanted Ina to go first, and she felt elated at first, but then they strapped her to the chair and cut off all of her perfect hair. You see, the other girls were actually jealous of Ina, and so they planned this event to shave all of Ina’s hair. “Ina left the party crying and running home without calling her mother. It was dark out that night and she didn’t know where she was, but it was still summer and the weather was warm. It was also raining. Ina could feel the warm rain all over her naked scalp, and she realized it felt good. It felt clean. It felt wonderful! It felt right... And she remembered for the first time since school started, that before she cared about her hair, and before she cared about fitting in at school, Ina loved- LOVED- the rain. “She was smiling all the way home.