“Damn it! Look at that mess! What am I to do with such a mop of unkempt hair?”

 Angrily Lorraine had spoken those words aloud, standing in front of the bathroom mirror, lifting her long mane with both hands.

“Cut it off!”

 Startled Lorraine looked around her.

“Huh? Wh…who said that?”

“I did…or you did. It doesn’t matter, we are a unity.”

“My image?” Lorraine was astonished. “You have never spoken to me!”

“You are right. Normally I’ve to be silent but as you said these words about your hair, which is my hair too, I couldn’t longer hold back.”

“I can’t believe it!” Lorraine was still embarrassed.

“It is your own voice that is heard and your lips that move. But they are mine too and now I say what I have on my mind. And you are right: our hair is awkward. Cut it off!”

Lorraine was shocked.

“Oh no, I couldn’t do that. My boyfriend wants me to wear my hair long, even much longer then it is now. He allows me only to trim very small pieces.”

“Of course I know your boyfriend, Sunny. He calls you Rainy, doesn’t he?”

“You know a lot.”

“Oh, much more than tou think. I’ve seen you two making love lying on the couch in the living-room several times. You know that there is a mirror at the opposite wall.”

Lorraine blushed. “Did you see everything?”

“Sure! When there is a mirror I see everything. Without one I don’t exist.  I must say, Lorraine, you can be a real lascivious kitten.”

“Oh, my god!”

“Don’t be ashamed, I’m no stranger. We are one person, you and me. Though, there is a difference:sadly I can’t feel anything. So I don’t know how it feels getting laid. It must be exciting.”

“Oh, please!”

“OK. Obviously you love Sunny very much.”

“I certainly do, with all of my heart.”

“And does he love you too?”

“Yes, at least I suppose so.”

“Well, in that case he wouldn’t be mad if you cut your, or better, our hair.”

“Yes, he would, I think he would break up with me.”

“Then he loves your hair more than he loves you.”

Lorraine again was embarrassed: could that be true?

“Talk to him, say that you want to have your hair cut. Did you ever speak about it?”

“No, the opportunity never arose.”

Lorraine pondered for a moment.

“How short should I have to go?”

“I’ll show you. Just turn around for a moment.”

Lorraine turned her back to the mirror.

“You may look now.”

“Oh, my god, no! That is not me!”

Her image looked at her, bald as a cueball!

“No, indeed,it is me like I should want you to look.”

Shocked Lorraine begged her image to reflect her real self.

“I’m sorry,dear. Sadly that is impossible. You asked me how I would want you…us to look and it cannot be reversed. Every time you look in a mirror you’ll see this image. You see, it’s easy to lose your hair but retrieval is something else.”

“There must be a way to restore this.”

“Well, tell me.”

But of course Lorraine couldn’t. She turned away from the mirror, then looked again and saw her bald image looking back.

She went to her bedroom and let herself down on an easy chair. She grabbed a lock of her hair and held it in front of her eyes.

“My image cheats on me,” she thought. “I can feel my hair and get it in view. How can I get back my real image?”

She heard someone whispering in her ear: “Maybe there is a way.”

“Who are you?”

“Your image of course.”

“What am I to do?”

“Shave your head! Ha, ha, ha!”

“Shut up!”

Every time in the next days that Lorraine looked at herself in a mirror she saw her bald image. Misschievously smiling? Or did she only imagine?

Worse:When she was sitting quietly or had just laid down on her bed to get some sleep she heard the sarcastic voice, whispering in her ear:”When are you going to shave your head, Lorraine?”

At last Lorraine couldn’t take it any more.

She put herself in front of the mirror in her bathroom. Angry and irritated she said:”Stop those messages. You are making me crazy.”

“Okay, I won’t more bother you. But to achieve that we have to have a session together. Do you agree?”

“What session?”

“I’ll tell you, but  first go the living-room and lie down on the couch.”

Lorraine went downstairs.

“Look at the mirror,” Image said, “Keep on looking at me. Just relax now, look at me and think of something nice….Yes, good girl…You are getting sleepy…close your eyes…sleepy… very sleepy. Don’ you feel that your eyes are getting heavy?  Keep your eyes closed…You are asleep now but you can hear me. Can’t you, Lorraine? Raise your hand if you can hear me.”

Lorraine raised her left hand.

“Very good. Listen to me, Lorraine. Do whatever I tell you. When I give you a sign you’ll get up and walk to the barbershop right around the corner of the street. You’ll enter and tell the barber that you want him to shave your head. Do you understand,Lorraine? Raise your hand.”

Lorraine raised her hand again.

“Okay. Now open your eyes and get up.”

Lorraine rose and obediently moved to the door, opened it and went to the barbershop, opened the door and entered. The barberchairs were occupied, so Lorraine sat down in the waiting area. Two men were waiting and curiously looked at the longhaired girl who didn’t seem to notice.

When it was her turn she strolled towards the barberchair and climbed into it.

“Well miss, what can I do for you?” the barber, a middle-aged man, asked.

“I want you to shave my head.”

Embarrassed the barber asked:”Are you kidding?”

“No, not at all” She looked at the mirror.”I want to look like my image. Or actually she does.”

Puzzled the barber looked at her:”Of course you look like your image. We all do when we look at a mirror.”

“No, you don’t understand.”

“Listen girl, I think you should better go home. You seem to be rather distracted.”

“No! I can’t go back with my hair intact. Please, shave me bald.”

“No miss, I won’t. Go home and think about it.”

Their discussion had caught the attention of the othermen in the shop. Some called her crazy, one said:”She is badgering you, Joe!”

Lorraine had no choice, she was expelled.

“He wouldn’t do it,” Lorraine said, standing in front of a mirror back home.

“I know, I was there too, you know? It is no big problem; at the Haymarket is a barber. Try him but don’t mention me, do you hear, Lorraine? Just ask for a headshave and no more. Go now!”

This barber had no scruples. He grinned at her request and caped Lorraine. But he had his own ideas. He brushed all of her long hair forward in front of her face so that Lorraine’s vision was limited by a curtain of hair. He drew a horizontal part from her right to her left temple,about an inch above the top of her ears. He combed back the hair beneath the part so that it was hanging down on Lorraine’s back. He took a pair of clippers without any guard, flicked on the switch and used them inverted to shave off the hair below the part. Sheets of two feet long hair slid down and Lorraine saw some of them land on her lap. Below the part only stubble remained but that had gone soon too when the barber covered it with shaving cream and next shaved the shorn area smooth. Of course Lorraine’s vision still was restricted due to the curtain of hair in front of her eyes. The barber cleaned Lorraine’s nape and the back of her head with a towel and combed back the rest of her hair which fell across her face and covered the shaven area on the backside.

“All done, miss,”he said. Lorraine stood up, paid him and went.

At home she stood in front of a mirror.

“Nice,” said her image,”Though,it is not what I intended.”

Puzzled Lorraine looked at her.

“Okay, wake up now,” Image told her.

Suddenly Lorraine realized where she was and that something had happened but
she didn’t remember anything. Her bald image was looking at her intensively. Something on her head felt different and worried she raised har hands to her head. She noticed that her hair still was present but….

“Oh my god! How do I look?” she cried when she felt the shaven nape and part of the back of her head.

“Don’t bother, if you keep your head quiet the bald parts are hidden but if you move too much they will show.”

“What will Sunny say? He will certainly notice; I can’t keep it hidden if we are making love!”

“You’ll have to wait and see.”

Lorraine was very anxious and nervous when Sunny came. But he didn’t seem to notice anything initially. Lorraine wanted to tell him but she didn’t immediately find the right words.

Suddenly Sunny said: “Your hair is different, Rainy. What did you do?”

Before Lorraine could say anything he got hold of a lock of her hair and his eyes widened:”What..?”

His hand touched the naked skin of her nape and the the back of her head. A broad smile creased his mouth:”Wow, that feels good.”

Amazed but relieved Lorraine asked:”You are not cross with me?”

“No..but why did you do your work by halves?” Sunny asked with a misschievous smile.

Perplexed Lorraine asked “I don’t understand…you don’t mean?”

“Yep, we have to finish this, Rainy”

“But I thought….you always wanted me to have long hair.”

“All or nothing at all, hon, nothing in between.”

He grabbed her hand and ushered her to the bathroom. Lorraine was too shocked to offer any resistance.

Meekly she was sitting in front of the mirror, seeing her smiling image and her lover cutting invisible hair. But she felt him grab lock after lock and she heard the scissors snipping them off and saw them falling on her thighs and land the floor. Lorraine saw how Sunny applied shaving cream and spread it out across Images scalp which was hers as well. She felt the coolness and next the scraping of the razor over her head,removing the last vestiges of her hair.

Lorraine moved her hands over her shining dome and gave her image a big smile:”Now we are identical again.”

The end.