Summary

The short story “Appointment” by Olivia Parkes begins with the narrator arriving at her haircut appointment. The narrator looks disheveled and she admits that she enjoys being away from the basement apartment where she lives. The hairstylist, Moira, invites the narrator to take a seat and offers her a drink. The narrator asks for champagne and tells Moira that she wants to change her hairstyle but not radically. 

The narrator lies to Moira and tells her that she needs to look good for an art gallery that night, where she is going to be at the center of attention as the artist. When Moira shows interest in the narrator’s paintings, she claims that she paints people seen from their dogs’ point of view.

When Moira asks her about a specific haircut, the narrator begins to fantasize about a haircut that could offer her an escape from the world she lives in. She shows Moira a photo of her and her estranged son, Paul, and tells the stylist that she likes the way her eyes used to look in the photo. The narrator recalls that, even though the photo was blissful, the reality behind it was different. Her husband used to steal from his workplace and, after his death, the narrator and Paul moved from one place t...