羅賓森那所美容院的設備，和其他美容院沒有什麼分別：頭罩式烘髮機、理髮椅、滿放洗髮精和護髮精的架子、堆滿髮刷的抽屜，以及盛著消毒劑擺放梳子的圓筒。但這間位於多倫多住宅區的美容院，卻似乎採取了上一代的收費：洗滌和吹整頭髮只要二十三元(加拿大元)，剪髮只要三十二元。

　　牆上黑白照片裡的身影，也非梳著流行髮型的明星或名模，而是艾瑞卡．羅賓森那些顧客二、三十歲時的照片。美容院位在不列顛樓的二樓，今天和平常一樣，門外排列著一些顧客的輪椅和助行器。不列顛樓是退休者之家，共住了二百二十五位年長者。

　　這天下午，春雨連綿。羅賓森在美容院的花瓶裡插了貓柳和淡黃色連翹花。安養院的一位院友芭芭拉在烘髮機下睡著了。她患有阿茲海默症。羅賓森輕撫芭芭拉交疊的雙手，把她喚醒，帶她走到鏡子前。

　　「你要幹什麼？」芭芭拉有點惱怒。

　　羅賓森一面把芭芭拉的座椅慢慢升高，一面溫婉地回答： 「我們要把你的髮捲拿下來，然後梳理頭髮；也許你今天還想修修眉毛。」

　　羅賓森剛替威廉修剪了纖細的銀髮。威廉最近才來到不列顛樓住下。他站著，一手拄著柺杖，一手從口袋中摸出一串門匙，自言自語說：「我和太太要多一份房間門匙，好像沒人可以告訴我上哪兒去要。」

　　羅賓森繼續替芭芭拉梳頭髮，同時向威廉笑了笑說： 「打電話給櫃台人員吧，他們可以幫你要門匙。」

　　但威廉把他的難題又說了一遍。羅賓森放下髮刷，說： 「我幫你打電話吧。」她小聲講完電話，掛上話筒，柔聲告訴威廉： 「雜務員現在下班了，但明天上午會給你另一份門匙。」

　　威廉問： 「我是不是該打電話給櫃台?」

　　羅賓森說： 「櫃台現在很忙，有緊急的事要辦。」

　　威廉再問： 「櫃台，我是不是該打電話給櫃台？」

　　羅賓森把自己剛才的話又重述了一遍。

　　美容院的其他顧客對威廉轉眼即忘的記憶力，早已司空見慣，他們自己何嘗沒有殘疾。現在，見威廉如此迷惘，他們只有和藹地笑笑，繼續安坐烘髮機之下。

　　但對外人來說，羅賓森對顧客的關懷和耐心實在難得。羅賓森對此倒頗不以為然： 「耐心？他們才有耐心哩。他們不斷要應付痛楚、轉變，從來不批評別人、責怪別人。對我來說，他們可愛極了。」

　　羅賓森今年四十三歲，常面露微笑，眼神帶著幽默，既能幹，又富愛心，誰都希望自己年邁的父母能獲得這樣的人照顧。不過，她不是不列顛樓的職員，多為顧客索取一份門匙；顧客忘記依約前來，就親自上門帶他們來美容院等，都不是她份內的工作。她的美容院是不列顛樓兩棟建築裡的一個小間，自己就是老闆。

　　如果羅賓森到高級美容院工作，應該可以多賺一些，也不用這麼勞碌。她從美髮學校畢業後，剛開始也是在高級的美容院工作，但她總覺得缺少了最重要的東西——一天工作帶來的滿足感。她向來喜歡和長輩在一起。

　　回顧往事，羅賓森說： 「這和我童年有關。」她是匈牙利人，生於德國，一九七○年隨家人移居加拿大時，只有五歲，在四個女兒、一個兒子中排行老三，她解釋說： 「我那時很不滿爸爸離開匈牙利，因為年長的親戚都在那裡，包括祖父母。我現在的顧客，就彷彿是我的祖父母。」

　　羅賓森會鼓勵他們說話，和他們聊往事。

　　九十七歲的馬德蓮說： 「我向來沉默寡言，但跟艾瑞卡一起，能夠親切交談。」奧黛麗接著說： 「我們也會談時事，這對我們來說，是很重要的動腦活動。艾瑞卡往往會和我討論選舉之類的事情，在場的其他顧客也會加入。」

　　羅賓森第一次到不列顛樓，只是想找一份工作。當時她還在市中心的美容院上班，有天休假，在普萊曾山和艾格林頓一帶，看到某個窗口貼著美容院招牌。她進去問店主妮爾．賀羅瓦克是否要僱用人手。賀羅瓦克說正想把店面轉讓。羅賓森從沒想過買下店面自己經營美容院，但兩人還是交換了電話號碼。三個月後，賀羅瓦克打電話給她。

　　羅賓森說： 「我其實無意自己做老闆，但妮爾說可以借錢給我。」而買下這店面，她就可以天天和喜歡的老人家在一起。

　　馬德蓮在不列顛樓住了十二年。她說羅賓森的確很喜歡「我們老人家，其中真有不少脾氣古怪的傢伙！我活了這麼久，只見過另外一個人像艾瑞卡這樣難得、這樣富同情心。」

　　個人生活上，羅賓森同樣細心照顧老人家。她下班後，會去探望七十四歲的母親伊莉莎白．派翠克。（她的父親攜家人移居加拿大七年後，死於一次吊車意外，由妻子單獨把兒女撫養成人。）現在她的母親行動不便，無法出門，羅賓森就和姊姊瑪莉卡．班西一起為母親買東西、準備食物，然後才回家和結縭十七年的丈夫盧塞爾相聚。班西說： 「艾瑞卡為人非常樂觀、和善，幫助媽媽向來不遺餘力。」

　　羅賓森說：「媽媽當年教我們要互相照顧。」

　　羅賓森在自己家裡，和不列顛樓的「第二家」裡，都維持著匈牙利傳統。班西說： 「聖誕節的時候，她會按照媽媽的食譜，做各式各樣傳統匈牙利甜餅乾，泡檸檬茶，還會把那些誘人糕點帶去給不列顛樓的院友們享用。」

　　羅賓森這天約了最後一名顧客，是一百零四歲的培德。這位老太太是退休教師，很有主見，喜歡和羅賓森談天說地，有時兩人會爭辯起來。羅賓森悄悄地告訴記者：「過去幾年，她已經比較肯聽別人說話了。」語畢，轉身和培德打招呼，咧嘴一笑。

　　培德嚷道：「你看我的頭髮，真是一團亂！上星期就該修剪，但你不在這裡。我要等你回來。」

　　Robinson’s Beauty Salon has the customary equipment: hooded dryers, styling chairs, shelves of shampoos and conditioners, drawers full of brushes, combs plunked into cylinders of disinfectant. But the prices at this uptown Toronto salon seem to be from an earlier era: $23 for a wash and style, $32 for a cut.

　　And the black-and-white photos on the wall are not of stars or trendy models with contemporary hairstyles but of Erika Robinson’s clients as young women in their 20s and 30s. Today their wheelchairs and walkers line up outside the door of the salon on the second floor of The Briton House, a retirement residence that is home to 225 seniors.

　　It’s a rainy spring afternoon and Robinson has filled the salon’s vases with pussy willows and lemon-yellow forsythia flowers. Barbara, a resident with Alzheimer’s disease, has fallen asleep under the dryer. Robinson softly caresses her client’s folded hands to wake her, then guides her to the styling mirrors.

　　“What are you doing?” Barbara frets.

　　“We’re going to take your rollers out now and comb your hair,” Robinson replies soothingly, slowly raising Barbara’s chair. “And maybe today you would like me to clean up your eyebrows.”

　　Robinson has just finished trimming the fine, silver hair of William, a new resident at The Briton House. William stands, leans on his cane and fishes a set of keys from his pocket. “My wife and I need another set of keys for our room,” he announces to no one in particular. “I can’t seem to find anyone to tell me where to get this.”

　　Without skipping a brush stroke of Barbara’s hair, Robinson smiles at William. “Call the front desk,” she suggests. “They can order the keys.”

　　William repeats his dilemma, then Robinson puts down her brush. “Let me call the front desk for you,” she says. After speaking quietly on the phone, she hangs up and explains gently, “Housekeeping has gone for the day, but they will get an extra set of keys for you in the morning.”

　　“Shall I call the front desk?” asks William.

　　“The front desk is busy right now with an emergency,” Robinson says.

　　“The front desk,” he asks again, “shall I call the front desk?”

　　Robinson repeats what she has told him.

　　To her other clients in the salon, William’s struggle with short-term memory loss is familiar; many have their own challenges. They smile benignly at his frustration and settle back under the dryer hoods.

　　To an outsider, however, her warmth and patience is admirable. “Patience?” Robinson scoffs. “They’re the ones with patience. They deal constantly with pain and change. They never judge or condemn. To me, they’re precious.”

　　At 43, with a ready smile and eyes that sparkle with humour, Robinson exudes the competence and compassion we all hope those caring for our aging parents will have. But she is not on The Briton House’s caregiving staff. And finding extra keys for a patron or going to clients’ rooms to bring them to the salon when they forget appointments is not really part of her job. Her hair salon is her own private business, located in a small room inside the twin-tower building.

　　Robinson could make more money—and with less effort—in an upscale salon. And she did, when she first graduated from hairstyling school. But something vital was missing—a feeling of gratification at the end of the day. And she had always felt drawn to her elders.

　　“It comes from my childhood,” she muses. Of Hungarian descent, Robinson was born in Germany and moved to Canada with her family in 1970; she was five years old, the middle child in a family of four girls and a boy. “I was angry with my dad because we had to leave all my older relatives, including my grandparents, in Hungary,” she explains, “so my clients have become my surrogate grandparents.”

　　Robinson draws them out, encouraging them to share their experiences with her.

　　“I’m a reserved person,” admits Madeline, 97, “but with Erika, we talk intimately.” “We discuss issues of the day,” Audrey adds. “It’s an important mental exercise for us. Often Erika and I will be talking about an election and others in the salon will join the conversation.”

　　When Robinson first visited The Briton House, she was just looking for another position. On a day off from her downtown salon job, she was in the Mount Pleasant/ Eglinton area and saw the beautysalon sign in the window. So she asked owner Nell Holowachuk if she was hiring, and Holowachuk said she was thinking of selling the business. For Robinson, buying and running her own business felt beyond her reach. Still, the women exchanged telephone numbers; three months later, Holowachuk called.

　　“I didn’t really want to be a businesswoman, but Nell offered to finance me,” says Robinson. And buying the business meant she could spend her days with the seniors she loves.

　　Madeline, who has been a resident at The Briton House for 12 years, confirms Robinson’s fondness “for us old souls. And, believe me, there are some cranky ones! I’ve known only one other person in my long life as special and as sympathetic as Erika.”

　　Robinson’s caring attitude spills over into her personal life. When her day is over at the salon, she looks in on her 74-year-old, housebound mother, Elizabeth Petrik. (Her dad died in a crane accident seven years after the family arrived in Canada, leaving her mom to raise the children.) Robinson shops and cooks for Petrik with older sister Marika Bansi before finally going home to Russell, her husband of 17 years. “Erika has always been very helpful to our mom,” Bansi says. “She’s extremely positive and kind.”

　　“My mom taught us to love one another,” Robinson says.

　　Robinson keeps Hungarian trad–itions alive with both her birth family and her surrogate family at The Briton House. “At Christmastime, she makes an assortment of traditional Hungarian cookies and lemon tea exactly according to my mother’s recipes,” Bansi says. “And she bakes these wicked pastries for the residents.”

　　Robinson’s last appointment of the day is Pat, 104. The centenarian is a former teacher who has strong opinions she enjoys sharing with Robinson. The two women have butted heads at times, “but she’s become more humble in the last few years,” Robinson confides, then turns to greet Pat with a welcoming grin.

　　“Look at this hair,” Pat exclaims. “I’m a mess. Should have had it done last week, but you weren’t here. “I wanted to wait for you.”