Collection in Person

The wig-maker has run out of hair. His suppliers have dried up due to unprecedented circumstances. He trims a coal black lock from a wig ordered by a sultan, awaiting collection in person. That could be a long time. The sultan won’t notice. The wig-maker has to decide what best to do with the small patch of hair in his palm when a whole head requires covering. He decides on two small horns at the top of the forehead. A channel to other species who graze in fields and recline in rivers, oblivious. The rest he assembles in the nape of the crown in a tumbled bun suggesting abundant tresses above. He studies his polystyrene manikin. The bare skull between horns and bun can be easily covered with a decorative headscarf.

There are no more orders. Orders have dried up due to unprecedented circumstances. Still, he places another dummy on his work bench. What kind of wig to make when there is no hair and there are no orders? He gets out his sharpest scissors, chops off his own hair and uses it to make a wig for himself. Then he turns to his wife and children.

When the wig shop re-opens, customers will find the wig-maker and his family recognisable but newly aligned.