Silhouette cameo with castle on thigh

I found Mum's cameo in the bottom of the biscuit tin, the oval one with the lilac frame she wore on Sundays. Inside was not her face at all but a painted woman in profile, and her long hair ran down past the edge of the picture and turned into a little castle with spires, like the ones in the books she read us. I always thought it was a bit silly. Today I held it up to the window, the light came through the aqua paint behind it, and the whole thing glowed like a boiled sweet.

Here is the odd part. On the back, in her handwriting, on the corner of an old bus ticket, she had written: Keep the hair long, it holds the tower up. I laughed until I cried, then I walked down to the chemist's and bought a bottle of conditioner, which I know is ridiculous.

I am posting the cameo to you second class. Do not let the postman bend it. Come up at the weekend and we will see whether the lift is working, and if it is not, we will climb together and count the floors out loud the way we used to on the stairs at Gran's.