Home » Location » Barbershop » See You Next Saturday (Part 2)

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Over the next five months, every two weeks Cathy would go to the King Street Barber Shop and get her hair cut by Glenn, whom she now considered her barber as his other customers considered him. Each visit she would walk in the shop, just like any other customer would, take her seat in a waiting chair, then when her turn came she would walk to the barber chair and sit in it. Glenn would cape her and just start up his clippers and begin clipping her hair as he had been for the months before. He never asked her ‘if she wanted the same hair cut as of her last visit’, just started clipping and talking.

Never did he ask her why she wanted her hair cut so short, for a woman. Nor did she tell him, other than her first visit.

But, still Cathy, after walking out the barber shop with her hair clipped short and looking good, felt her needs for that one hair cut she had, so far, been putting off. The one hair cut which guided her to the "King Street Barber Shop" in the first place.

By now her family and friends had grown use to seeing her with her hair cut so short. For the first few months some would ask her ‘why she cut her hair so short’, of course she would just smile and tell them, "Don’t you cut your hair like you want it cut"!

This would draw many "Buts", "AHs", and "Surely". But, her thoughts were they should except her for who she was, what she did, not for how she cut her hair. Then, there were those whom she did not know, the ones she would pass while shopping, at the casino, the bank, even where she worked.

These were just "looks", to which she would just smile when she noticed them. She sometime wondered if any of them, man or woman, ever thought of cutting their hair half as short as she was cutting her’s.

But, the thoughts of the one hair cut she has wanted for years still roamed within her mind. If she saw a man with his head shaved, she would wonder how she would look with her head shaved. Sometimes she would wake up in the middle of a day dream, of her head being shaved, in a sweat. Her body would shiver, her throat would sometimes be dry for an hour.

Each time she shampooed her head she would think of it as spreading warm shaving lather over her head. When she shaved other parts of her body, she would wonder about lathering her head and shaving it, too. A few times she lathered her head just to feel the lather on her head. But, that was not what she wanted …..

She wanted her first head shaving to be done by a barber. So, some of her thoughts were of her asking Glenn if he would shave her head. A few times a dream would be of her walking into the barber shop, sitting in the barber chair, and Glenn picking up the clippers and forgetting to put the number one attachment on until it was too late. He would have buzzed a strip up the back of her head, from the hairline to the top, before he noticed.

At seeing what happened he would surprisingly, telling her, "he was sorry for not noticing he did have the attachment on".

But, she would smile to herself, her body would grow warm. Her mind would be telling her, "Now, you’re half way there".

After being shown the damage, as he would think it, she would look sad, a joyous sad, and tell him "she understood and to just go ahead and finish buzzing her head". A few times her dream would be of her telling him to just go ahead and shave her head after he finished buzzing her.

Of course, she would be woken by the buzzing sound of her alarm clock going off, or of someone tapping her on the shoulder. But, she realized she never had one of these day dreams while in the barber shop waiting her turn, which would be from a few minutes to an hour or more, nor while her hair was being cut.

When she walked out the barber shop, after each visit, she would always tell herself, "Why didn’t you tell him go a little short". It was always the second thoughts that got her mad.

Then, one day while on her computer she was looking through one of her regular web sites, when she came upon a photo that grabbed her eyes and attention. She sat there looking, staring, her body slowly built up a shiver, her legs begin to tighten and stretched out under the desk.

Slowly she scrolled down the page, following – watching, each photo appear. From hair longer than her’s, she watched, stared, as each photo showed the lady with her hair going shorter and shorter.

When the photo, of the lady, came up with her hair as short as her’s, Cathy stopped and took a very deep breath, almost causing her to fall over. The arrow on the side of the page indicated there were more photos. She got up and slowly walked around the room, her breathing now at a quicker pace, her heart was beating as if she had just finished running twenty miles.

She stood behind the chair, reached to the mouse and scrolled to the next photos …..

Her eyes widened, she inhaled a deep breath, her body stood straight up. The lady, in the photo, now had all her hair buzzed off, shorter then her’s. Cathy stood there her eyes staring at the photo. Her heart beating almost out of her chest. She leaned forward and scrolled the mouse again.

A can of shaving cream and a safety razor appeared. Quickly her hands covered her mouth as she breathed in. She raised her body and begin walking around the room again.

"Could she", Cathy thought to herself. "Could the next photo be of her with her head all lathered! Could the photos after be of her head being shaved"!

She stopped across the room from her computer and looked at it. She stayed away from her computer, letting it stare at her. She got something to drink. Glancing at the computer ever so often over the next hour. Finally, she walked back to the computer and sat in the chair.

Her hand, still very nervous and shaking, took hold of the mouse and scrolled to the next photo.

The sides and back of her head were all lathered. In the next photo, the back of her head showed lather spread over the top of her head, in the back.

Cathy scrolled to the next photo ….. it was of the lady with her head shaved, except for a little part in the front which was still buzzed. Cathy smiled, then printed that photo out, and just as quickly she saved it to a folder.

She taped the photo on her bedroom dresser mirror, where she would see it each time she used the mirror. It also where she would see it when she rose from a night’s sleep.

Saturday came around, she printed another copy of the photo. She was going to bring it to Glenn, telling him, "This is what I want".

Just as she was walking out her apartment the telephone rang, it was her brother. He was calling to remind her of their lunch date to talk about the family gathering next month. They were putting it together and need to make some decision on what they would be eating.

An hour had passed when she realized the time. The barber shop would be closing in two hours and it would take her an hour to get there. So, she told her brother she had some place important to go for four o’clock, it was now three o’clock. They hung up and she rushed out the apartment.

Reaching the barber shop she grabbed her purse, then looked inside ….. realizing she left the photo on the small table where the telephone sat. She did not put it in her purse as she had been thinking while driving the barber shop. She could not go back for it. So, she just went in and got her hair cut like the last visits.

As Glenn was capping her she mention to him she had a photo of a hair cut she wanted to try and would bring it with her when she came back in two weeks. She noticed a look on his face, she had not seen before. It was a look of, "Another hair cut"!

Her hair cut finished she paid and walked toward the door. While walk out the shop Glenn said to her, "Don’t forget the photo next time"!

She smiled and told him, "I won’t".

When she arrived back home, she found the photo, still on the table next to the telephone, and put it in her purse. She printed out more copies of the photo and placed them in places where she would see it. On some she even printed "Take with you when you go for your next hair cut".

She would stare at the photo, it was in her mind. It ever showed when she looked at something.

Two weeks passed. She rose with the sun coming in the window of her bedroom. The photo, as always, was staring at her. Quickly she got ready and was on her way, to the King Street Barber Shop, within an hour. She checked her purse more times than she had ever. Opening it at every stop light and stop sign, to make sure she had a copy of the photo in her purse.

When she arrived she took it out her purse before getting out the car. She had it in the hand she pushed the door open.

As she walked in the barber shop Glenn looked up, she was waving the photo, "Here it is".

She walked to the chair and handed it to him. He took the photo, looked it over, then at her.

She took a chair in the waiting area, he put the photo on the shelf. There were two other customers before her, so she begin look through some magazines. For the first time, since coming to the King Street Barber Shop, she never glanced at the customers before her getting their had cut but Glenn. She never looked to see if the photo was still on the shelf, or if he had taken a glance each time he was at the shelf.

"Cathy", she heard her name called, "I’ll be right back. Have to use the little room".

She looked up and shook her head "OK", then walked to the barber chair and glanced at the shelf in the mirror then the shelf.

The photo was there, where he could see it each time he stood by to the shelf.

While sitting in the barber chair she wondered if he would ask her questions. How she would answer them. Should she tell him that was the "hair cut she wanted". Should she wait for him to ask her something.

She heard the door close in the back of the shop, looked towards it as Glenn came walking towards the chair. In the mirror, over the waiting chairs, she saw him looking at the photo.

He turned and begin putting the cape on her. "Nothing", she said to herself.

She watched him take hold of the clippers, oil it, then turn around. He placed his left hand on the top of head and tilted it.

"CLICK", the clippers came to life, she could not see if he had put an attachment on it or not.

Then, she felt the coolness of the clipper’s metal head touch her neck, below the hair line. Slowly it was pushed up into her hair as the sound changed.

She took a breath and let it out slowly.

"FINALLY", she thought to her self. This upward movement was followed by more as Glenn worked his way around her head. First, the back of her head, the left side, finally the right side.

She was now staring at a woman, a strange woman who had all the hair on the sides, even the back, of her head all cut off as close as possible to her scalp. Then, her eyes watched as the clippers were placed on the top of her head and moved back over it. Her eyes closed, "It’s happening".

Glenn quickly buzzed the top of her head. Still he did not say a word, nor ask a question.

The clippers were turned off, he dusted her head all over then her face. She heard water flowing in the sink. She could see steam rising from it. She saw him toss a large white towel in the sink, then he rung it out.

He turned and wrapped the warm towel around her head, "Too, hot". She shook her head "no".

After pushing it close to her head he turned and went to the lather dispenser. The winding sound told her he was filling his hand with lather.

She watched him turn and remove the towel, then he started lathering her head. First he spread the warm lather over the right side of her head, the back, then the left side. She felt him spread a little over the top back of her head, too.

After lathering the left side he turned and washed his hands, then dried them on another towel.

"Must be going to shave the back and sides first", she thought to herself. Then, he picked a straight razor, stopped it on the leather strap, then raised it to the top of the lather on the right side of her head. Slowly he begin shaving the lather away, taking with it the stubbles it covered.

Her eyes closed, her mind heard the razor scrapping the little hairs from her head. Her body begin to tighten, then a slow shiver started from the coolness she was feeling from the first stroke of the straight razor. She watched him shave backward, then he tilted her head downward as he started shaving the back of her head.

Her mind saw her with her head shaved. Her fingers gently brushing over her smooth scalp. The looks she would see on others when they saw her. She wondered how the water of the shower would feel on her smooth head.

Then, she was brought back to reality when the chair came to a stop. She looked up as Glenn was removing the cape. She turned her head from side to side, then tilted it a little. Only the back and sides were shaved to the skin, the top still had the buzzed hair.

She wanted to tell him, but he was shaking the cape out and calling for the next customer.

Disappointed she stepped from the chair, paid him and walked out the shop. When she got to her car she looked at her self, her new hair cut, in the visor mirror. "So close but so far", she said as she stroked her fingers over her head. It felt good to her, but strange.

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