Scalped and Left

The knife circled brow to nape and the pull came, a wet tearing you heard more than felt. You dropped and played dead in the grass, skull bare to the sky, until the hoofbeats faded. The doctor cuts away nothing, for there is nothing left to cut: he washes the bone with carbolic and bores the dry outer table with an awl, dozens of shallow holes, so new flesh can rise from them and creep across. That, laudanum, and months of dressings are the whole of medicine's answer. You lived by lying still. Now you must heal the same way.

• Bedridden with the full crown bandaged, no hat, no riding, no standing without a steady arm for 7 days
• Dressings changed twice daily, no sun on the wound, indoors or deep shade only for a month of scenes
• Any jolt to the head risks tearing the new flesh: no running, fighting, or fast riding for 21 days
• /me lies still beneath a wide turban of dressings, eyes moving where the head does not

Recovery Months of granulation before skin closes over the bone; the crown never grows hair again, a lifetime under the hat.·Doctor, urgently

The blade got a quarter of its circle before your friends' rifles spoke, but a hand's breadth of scalp went with the rider anyway, torn away above your left ear. The doctor washes the bared patch with carbolic, trims the ragged rim, and stitches what skin will stretch toward the middle. The rest must fill in from the bottom up, and he does not pretend the hair is coming back.

• Head bandaged above the left ear, dressings changed daily, no hat over the wound for 14 days
• Blood loss leaves you dizzy on rising: no riding faster than a walk for 5 days
• No brawling, wrestling, or anything that could tear the stitched rim for 10 days
• /me keeps the bandaged side of the head turned from the fire, jaw tight

Recovery Three weeks for the patch to skin over, months to pale; that hand of scalp stays bare for life.·Doctor, urgently

The knife went in at the hairline and lifted a flap of scalp the size of your palm before the grip on you was broken. It hung over your eyes like a wet hat brim, and you rode home holding it in place with one hand. The doctor washes it with carbolic, lays it back where it grew, and sets forty silk stitches around the circle. If the flap takes, you keep your hair. If it blackens, he trims it away.

• Forehead and hairline ringed in silk stitches, no hat brim touching them for 10 days
• The flap must not be jarred: no galloping, no fighting, no headfirst anything for 14 days
• Headaches come in waves, laudanum at dusk if you can get it, short words and short temper for 4 days
• /me wears a ring of black silk stitches at the hairline and touches nothing above the eyebrows

Recovery Stitches out in 12 days if the flap takes; a curved scar at the hairline either way.·Doctor required

You twisted as the knife bit, so instead of a circle it carved one long deep track from the nape of your neck up behind your right ear, through skin and the thin muscle under it. Scalp wounds bleed like a stuck pig and this one soaked you to the belt before a wadded shirt slowed it. The doctor shaves a strip of hair and closes it with silk in a long curved seam.

• A shaved and stitched track behind the right ear, no collar or hat band rubbing it for 8 days
• Turning the head sharp pulls the seam: checking over the right shoulder costs you for 7 days
• Lightheaded from blood lost, no heavy lifting or running for 4 days
• /me sits with the head canted left, a shaved seam of stitches curving behind the ear

Recovery Stitches out in 10 days, the shaved strip grown back in a season, a thin white seam under it for good.·Doctor required

The knee came down between your shoulders and the blade traced its first quarter circle at your brow before a gunshot somewhere made the hand pause, and that pause was your life. The cut is to the bone at its deepest, a curved mouth at the edge of your hair. The doctor draws it shut with silk and tells you an inch more of patience elsewhere would have cost you the crown.

• A curved line of stitches at the brow's edge, kept dry and salved, no hat for 6 days
• Raising the eyebrows pulls the seam: keep the face still when you can for 5 days
• No fights, no falls, nothing that could burst the stitches for 8 days
• /me carries a fresh curved seam of stitches at the hairline, brow held carefully flat

Recovery Stitches out in 8 to 10 days, a crescent scar at the hairline for the rest of your days.·Doctor required

The knife slipped its line and skated down your temple, peeling back a strip of scalp two fingers wide and nicking the rim of your ear on its way. Blood filled your left eye so fast you fought the rest of it half blind. The doctor lays the strip back, stitches it flat, and closes the ear rim with two fine loops. The eye is unhurt once it is washed. The headache is another matter.

• Temple and ear rim stitched, a pad bound over both, no lying on the left side for 6 days
• The left eye waters and the temple pounds: aim and reading both suffer for 3 days
• No hat pressure on the left side, brim tipped right or hat carried for 7 days
• /me wears a pad bound over the left temple, the ear rim seamed with fine stitches

Recovery Stitches out in 9 days; the temple scar hides in the hair, the ear keeps a small seam.·Doctor required

You got a hand up and caught the edge meant for your hairline, and your palm paid your scalp's price. The blade laid it open across the base of all four fingers before you wrenched it aside, and the hairline itself took only a shallow bite. The doctor stitches the palm in a curved row and the brow with three quick loops, then binds the hand into a loose half fist it will keep for a while.

• The right hand bound and stitched: no gripping, no gun work, no reins in that hand for 9 days
• Three stitches at the hairline, salved and kept dry for 5 days
• Buttons, knots, and card dealing are one handed business for 9 days
• /me favors a bandaged right hand, curled loose as if holding an egg

Recovery Palm stitches out in 12 days, full grip returning over a month; the brow heals in a week.·Doctor required

A fist closed in your hair and hauled you clean out of the saddle, and the ground did the rest. A fistful went out at the roots, taking a raw patch of skin with it, and the back of your head met the hardpan hard enough to ring bells nobody else could hear. The doctor dresses the raw patch and watches your eyes by candlelight, asking what day it is more than once.

• A raw patch at the back of the head, salved and padded, no hat resting on it for 7 days
• Rattled senses: doubled lamplight and lost minutes for 2 days, no riding alone in that time
• Sleep is broken and checked the first night, someone wakes you every few hours
• /me blinks slow at the lamplight, a padded dressing tied over the back of the head

Recovery The head clears in 3 days, the raw patch scabs in 10; most of the hair returns by spring.·Doctor required

The point traced its arc at your hairline but the press behind it never came, a shallow half moon scored through skin and no deeper, because your elbow found something soft and the grip was gone. It bled with all the drama scalp wounds love, twice the blood the cut deserved. Washed with carbolic and pulled together with sticking plaster, it needs no silk, only patience.

• A plastered half moon cut at the hairline, kept clean and dry for 5 days
• No hat brim riding on the cut: hat pushed back or carried for 4 days
• The forehead pulls when you frown, and you will be frowning, for 3 days
• /me sports a shallow half moon cut at the hairline, plaster strips holding it shut

Recovery Closed in 5 days, the plaster off within the week, a faint crescent left when the light catches it.·Doctor advised

The knee between your shoulders held you face down while a hand yanked your head back by the hair, and the rescue came before the knife did. Your neck was wrenched near to spraining and your forehead ground into the gravel, a raw scrape from brow to hairline studded with grit that must be picked out one pebble at a time.

• The neck wrenched stiff: turning to look means turning the whole body for 4 days
• A picked clean scrape across the forehead, salved and left open to the air, weeping for 3 days
• Sleeping is a negotiation with the neck for 3 nights, one position only
• /me turns from the shoulders, neck held stiff, a raw graze across the forehead

Recovery The neck loosens in 4 or 5 days; the graze scabs and sheds inside a fortnight.·Doctor advised

The fist took hair and the knife never got its turn, but when you tore free you left a handful behind, roots and a coin of skin with them. There is a raw bleeding patch the size of a silver dollar above your ear, and a headache from the pull that sits behind your eyes like a bad tenant.

• A dollar sized raw patch above the ear, salved and covered, hat worn loose for 5 days
• The scalp aches at any tug: no rough hat handling and no low branches at a gallop for 4 days
• A pulling headache behind the eyes, worse by lamplight, for 2 days
• /me has a small dressed patch above the ear where the hair went with the fight

Recovery Scabbed in a week; the hair grows back patchy by next season and covers the rest.·Doctor advised

You got the arm up as the blade came for your hairline and it wrote its line along your forearm instead, wrist to elbow, shallow at both ends and honest in the middle. Six stitches where it is honest, sticking plaster where it is not, and your hairline never felt the edge at all.

• The left forearm stitched at mid length: no heavy lifting or hauling rope with that arm for 6 days
• Sleeves worn loose or rolled clear of the dressing, the seam kept dry for 8 days
• The grip tires early on that side, long gun work suffers for 5 days
• /me keeps the left sleeve rolled over a stitched line running up the forearm

Recovery Stitches out in 9 days, a thin straight scar wrist to elbow to point at when the story gets told.·Doctor advised

They put you down hard and the knife was out and coming when the shout went up, and hooves scattered the whole business. You are left with a pommel split at the crown of your head, an inch of parted skin on a goose egg, and bruises down one side from the fall. It looks worse than it is. Up there, it usually does.

• An inch long split on a swelling at the crown, cleaned and plastered, hat worn light for 4 days
• Bruised hip and shoulder from the fall, stiff mornings for 3 days
• The goose egg is tender to every hat brim and doorframe for 5 days
• /me presses a careful finger near a plastered split at the crown, testing the goose egg

Recovery The split closes in 5 days, the swelling is down in 2, the bruises done inside a week.·Doctor advised

The point touched down and skipped, a nick at the hairline no longer than your thumbnail, though it bled like it had ambitions. Someone pressed a kerchief to it, counted to a hundred, and made you sit still. That was the whole cure, and it took.

• A thumbnail nick at the hairline under a dab of salve, kept clean for 3 days
• No picking at the scab, however it itches, for a week
• /me carries a small scabbed nick at the hairline, mostly hidden by the hat

Recovery Scabbed by morning, gone in a week, no scar worth the name.·No doctor needed

The blade sawed once and came away with hair alone, a fist of it cut off a finger's width from your scalp before you broke loose. Your hide is whole. Your haircut is now a matter of public comment, a ragged shelf on the left side that no barber can wholly disguise.

• A ragged missing hank on the left side: the hat stays on more than usual until it evens out
• The scalp is tender where the hair was sawed, no rough hat handling for 2 days
• /me tugs the hat lower over a ragged, freshly shortened patch of hair

Recovery Nothing to heal but pride; the hair evens out in a month or two.·No doctor needed

The flat of the knife pressed to your brow and the edge kissed it just once, a shallow warning slice above the eyebrow that let you feel how easy the rest would be. Then came the interruption. It closes with one strip of plaster and a long night of thinking about it.

• A plastered slice above the right eyebrow, kept dry for 4 days
• Sweat stings it under a hat band: brim pushed high for 3 days
• /me wears a thin plastered slice above the right eyebrow

Recovery Sealed in 4 days; a thin mark above the brow that fades by winter.·No doctor needed

The hand that gripped your hair never got its knife to the line. You twisted, swung, and skinned two knuckles on somebody's teeth buying your freedom. The scalp aches where a hundred hairs held on and a dozen did not, and your right hand wears the marks of the argument.

• A tender scalp: hats sit light and the hair goes uncombed on that side for 2 days
• Two skinned knuckles on the right hand, salved, gloves worn loose for 3 days
• /me rubs a sore patch of scalp, right knuckles freshly scabbed

Recovery The scalp settles in 2 days, the knuckles scab and shed within the week.·No doctor needed

The blade found your hat first and stayed there, carving through felt and band and taking the crown clean off it, the same stroke that meant to circle your scalp. You came away with your hair and a hat you can wear as a lidless bucket or keep as testimony. Most keep it.

• Not a mark on you, though the hat is beyond any hatter's help
• A thin red pressure line across the forehead where the band drove down, gone by morning
• /me pokes a finger through the sliced crown of a ruined hat and whistles

Recovery Nothing to heal; the hat, however, is past all mending.·No doctor needed

The knee was on your back and the knife hand was gathering your hair when the whistle came from the ridge, two notes, and the weight was gone like it had never been. You lay in the grass a long moment, counting your own breaths, then stood up whole. A bruised cheekbone from the ground. That is the entire bill.

• A bruised cheekbone, tender to the touch and purple by evening, for 4 days
• You flinch at whistles for a day or two, and nobody could blame you
• /me touches a bruised cheekbone and looks toward the ridge line

Recovery The bruise blooms, yellows, and is gone inside a week.·No doctor needed

The point touched your hairline and you did the only thing left: you died. Went slack mid breath, eyes half open, tongue loose, the whole performance. The knife hand paused, a voice above you said a dead man's hair carries his ghost in it, and the weight lifted. They took your hat for a trophy and left your scalp on the theory it was haunted. You lay staring at the sky until the hoofbeats faded, then got up, whole, into the best story you will ever tell.

• Not a scratch on you, and a story that buys drinks in any saloon willing to hear it
• A red point mark at the hairline where the knife rested, gone in a day
• Bareheaded until you find a new hat: the old one rides off as somebody's trophy
• /me rises out of the grass, whole, and brushes off the dust like a man late for his own funeral

Recovery Nothing to mend; give the heart a night to stop rehearsing it.·No doctor needed