I want to tell you a story. I am going tell you about a barbershop experience when I was eight years old. To first give you some background info my father had died a year before from cancer. Well a couple months later my mom Susan began to date a guy named Butch. Well at the time of my barbershop experience Butch was living with us and had been for about eight months. Another important fact is that at this point in time I was an only child and Butch had never been married. Also at the time Butch and I were not getting along to good and mom was always siding with Butch. Now for my story it seems as though it happened only yesterday.

I was at home in my room writing in my diary. Well my mom came into the room and told me she was off to work she would be home in a couple of hours she said. Before leaving she told me to good for Butch or if I was not good for him then I knew what Mom and Butch would do with me and to me. The punishment that had been threating me with for the last couple of weeks was that if I was not a good girl. Then I would be taken to The Chop Shop, which was a local barbershop that Butch went to, and I would have my shoulder length blonde hair cut off short.

Well mom left for work and I went back to writing in my diary. I was writing down my feelings about mom and Butch relationship and that good junk. Well after another ten to fifteen minutes of that I got tired and shut my diary and lay down on my bed. I was so tired that I decided not to hide my diary; well that was my first mistake. I laid down on my bed and after about ten minutes I was sound asleep. Well unbeknownst to me while I slept Butch crept into my room and started to read my diary. So about a half an hour later when Butch got to what I had been writing that day he came storming into my room and woke me up.

Butch started yelling at me that what I wrote about him in my diary was the final straw and that I was getting my hair chopped off at the Chop Shop. He then said I am calling your mother and she what she thinks we should do. So with that Butch called my mother he talked to her for about five minutes none of which I could hear. After he hung up the phone he announced that mom had agreed with his decision and that she was leaving work early and then we would be off to The Chop Shop.

Well about ten minutes passed and then I heard the front door slam, mom was home. So with that Butch went down to meet her, he took my diary with him and told me to stay put. He was gone for about ten minutes then I heard footsteps thudding up the steps I knew that mom was coming. Mom came storming into my room with my diary in hand she then told me that was it and I was a bad girl and that my hair was getting chopped off. She then grabbed me by the arm and pulled me up to my feet and spanked my butt about four times and then she told me to get my shoes on and grab my little purse.
So with that we all piled into Butch’s car and we were off to The Chop Shop. Not a word was said in the whole fifteen minutes that it took to get to the building in which The Chop Shop was located. As we drove I sat in the back seat and wondered if mom would have the guts to let her little girl’s hair be chopped off. I thought to myself that about the time the barber was going to take the first hank of hair off my mom would stop him and I would be pardoned.

Finally Butch pulled the car into a parking space in front of an old red brick building. There was a big glass window in the front of the building and through this window you could see into The Chop Shop. Hanging above the window was a sign that said The Chop Shop in red, white, and blue spray painted letters. On the right hand side of the window there was a red and white barber pole ominously spinning round and round meaning that the shop was open. Next to the barber pole was the door that I did not want to go through. As I sat intently staring at the barber pole as it spun in circles it seemed to beckon me to come on in and get my hair chopped off.

As I sat there my gaze fell upon the window and I stared intently into the shop. The first thing that caught my attention in the shop was the big old looking black leather barber chair. Resting peacefully draped across the back of the chair was a bright yellow haircutting cape. Which I knew within a few minutes would be draped around my neck. But hopefully the cape would not become covered with my hair. As I sat there staring into the shop out of nowhere a gentleman in his forties came up to the chair and took the cape and shook it out and then he motioned for someone to have a seat.

Then from off to the side of the window a young girl about eight years old appeared. The girl stopped and turned and looked out the window. When she had turned around I thought I was looking into a mirror. Because the girl standing in the window in The Chop Shop looked exactly like me. The girl then turned and walked up to the chair and reluctantly climbed into the barber chair. The man then fastened the yellow cape around the little girl’s neck. He then looked off into the direction, from which the little girl had come and started to talk to someone I could not see. Then from the same spot from where the little girl had appeared a woman smoking a cigarette appeared and once again I thought I was looking into a mirror because the women looked exactly like my mom. The women turned towards the window and looked directly at me and mouthed the words cut it all off!

With those fateful words the women turned and walked back out of the view of the window. My eyes then immediately went to my twin who sat in the chair. There was a look of shock on her face at what had just been said. At this time the man who I believed must be named Chuck was messing with something behind the chair. Then Chuck turned back around towards the chair. He then raised his left hand up into the air and in the hand was a pair of big black hair clippers, which he was about to use on my unsuspecting twin. With his right hand Chuck pushed my twin’s head forward so that her chin rested on her chest. Chuck then flicked the clippers on, and at that moment my twin tried to lift her head but Chuck held her head down with his right hand. Then taking the clippers he placed them at what looked like the middle of the nape of her head and pushed them forward towards the crown of her head. As he plowed forward through her hair it piled in front of the clippers until he reached her crown and then it fell in front of her eyes to her lap. Except for a few long strands which had either collected on her shoulders or slid off her shoulders to the floor. All that was left in the wake of Chuck’s clippers was quarter inch stubble. I almost screamed out loud at the sight of my twin getting her hair buzzed off.

Chuck then placed the clippers back at the base of my twin’s neck next to where they had been the first time. Chuck then sent the clippers upward towards my twin’s crown thus once again leaving quarter inch stubble in its wake. As the clippers ploughed through my twin’s hair it reminded me of a hot knife cutting through butter. Chuck then took a couple more passes with the clippers on the back of my twin’s head with each pass Chuck sent torrents of blonde hair onto my twin’s lap.

Chuck then allowed my twin to raise her head. Chuck then took her head and pushed it the right and he then took the clippers and starting in front of her ear he plowed the clippers up and around her ear leaving a quarter of an inch on the sides. With the first pass of the clippers on the left side of my twin’s head five-inch pieces slid down into her lap.

Chuck then continued buzzing away with the clippers on the right side of my twin’s head. After a couple more passes on the right side of my twins head Chuck let her head come back up. He then walked around to the left side of my twin’s head and pushed her head to the right. Now I could not see what was going on, on the left side of my twin’s head. I could only imagine the clippers taking the hair off the left side of my twin’s head.

After
buzzing the left side of my twins head Chuck shut off the clippers and let my twins head raise up. He then proceeded to the counter behind the chair and took the blade guard off the clippers and picked up his comb. Chuck then turned around and started to comb the hair on top of my twin’s head straight up and then took his clippers and ran them over the comb reducing my twins hair down to short spikes on top of her head. Chuck continued the process of lifting and cutting my twins hair on top into short little. As Chuck continued to work his way towards the back of my twin’s head I could begin to tell he was giving her a flat top. I just sat there thinking to myself be that my fate that I would end up with a flat top hair cut.

After what seemed like an eternity Chuck finally put down his clippers and comb. He then turned my twin towards her mom and asked if it looked okay. He then turned my twin towards the window and straight at me so that we could make eye contact. Also I could clearly see all the shorn hair of my twin resting on the yellow cape. I just sat there staring into space at the scene before me. When all the sudden I was aroused from my trance by my mom saying come Mary time for you to get your hair cut. I then stole a glance back into the shop and my twin; her mom and Chuck were gone. The chair still sat their though yellow cape lying over the back of the chair. There was no trace of my twin, her mom or my twin’s hair anywhere in the shop. I thought to myself had I just dreamed all that or was I looking into the future and my twin had actually been me, only time would tell.

My mother then got out of the car and opened my door and grabbed me by the arm and said come on Mary time to see a barber about a haircut. So off we marched towards the revolving barber pole and the ominous door to the Chop Shop. I tried to drag my feet as much as possible but my mom literally dragged me along right behind her. There was no escape for me now; I was really in some big trouble. I was trying to figure out what to say to maybe save my shoulder length blonde hair from being cut off short. But there was nothing that I could say so I just was quite as I was dragged closer to the Chop Shop and my destiny with the clippers.

Upon reaching the door my mom stopped and said say good bye to your hair, with that she opened the door and we walked through into the shop. Upon entering the shop a bell rang out announcing that someone was in the shop. Upon getting a look at the shop I could see the chair with the yellow cape on the back of the chair, and there was a thick pile of hair all around the chair on the floor. Lying on the counter behind the chair was a set of professional clippers. I then thought to myself hopefully those clippers will not be used on my hair. My mom and I then walked over and sat down in two chairs just out of view of the window. Was this just a coincidence or had I seen into the future because this was the same area that my twin had come from. I just sat there starring at the barber chair knowing that before long I would be sitting in that very chair.

We sat there for what seemed like an eternity then my mom picked up a magazine and started to read the magazine. I just sat there continually starring at the chair waiting for the barber to come out and greet us and cut my hair. I sat there waiting finally I started to fidget and got up and walked over to the chair and touched the chair. At this my mom looked up from her magazine and asked me what I was doing? I replied in a smart laic tone nothing. She then said don’t you get smart with me young lady I could have the barber shave your head if you don’t straighten up.

She then asked if I wanted to sit in the barber chair now or if I wanted to wait for the barber to put me in the chair. I just stood there looking at the chair not knowing what to say after about a minute of me not answering my mom came over walked over to the counter and picked up the child seat and put it across the arms of the barber chair. She then picked up the yellow cape off the back of the chair and put it on the counter behind the chair covering up the clippers. She then picked me up and placed me on the seat and told me to stay put. She then turned the chair around so I could see myself in the mirror. There I sat looking into the mirror with my shoulder length blonde hair just hanging there lifeless. I just sat there thinking to myself what will happen to my hair.

After a couple more minutes of dead silence with my mom sitting they’re reading a magazine and me just sitting they’re looking into the mirror starring at my blonde hair. When I heard a door in the back creak and open and thought to myself my barber is on his way. Then from the back up the shop a man in his late fifties came walking into the shop he was wearing a pair of black pants and a barber vest that had embroider on the left hand side the name Chuck. He then said good afternoon ladies, upon seeing me sitting in the chair he said aye you must be my next customer.

With that Chuck walked over and turned the chair away from the mirror so I was looking out the window. I then heard a drawer open up behind the chair and I could hear some rustling of cloth from behind the chair. Then from behind me a blue haircutting cape was fastened around my neck. Chuck then walked to the front of the chair and adjusted the cape so as not to get any hair on my clothes.

Then turning to my mother Chuck asked her how I was to her my haircut. Still to this day I remember what my mom did and said when asked that question by Chuck. Putting down the magazine she had been reading my mom picked up her midnight black purse and opened it up and took out her matching black cigarette case. She then put down her purse and got up from where she had been sitting and walked up to the chair and then she pulled out a cigarette and light it up and after taking a puff said Mary is a bad little girl now isn’t she. I without realizing what I was doing nodded my head yes. She then said I personally feel that a bad little girl does not deserve to have such pretty hair. What do you think Chuck. As if my mother was a witch or something Chuck who seemed to be in a trance agreed with my mom and said yes-bad little girls don’t deserve such beautiful hair.

Then my mother took a handful of my hair in her left hand and held it straight out from my head then she took the haircutting shears out of Chuck’s pocket. She brought them near my head and placed them around the handful of my hair, which she held in her left hand. At this point I tried to move out of the chair but I just got yanked back by the hair and then snip, snip the handful of my hair in my mom’s left hand was dropped into my lap. At the sight of my long hair lying in my lap I began to weep very loud. My mother just took another puff on her cigarette and then began to laugh and said you did not think I had the guts to let some one cut my daughters hair short now did you. With that my mother grabbed another handful of my blonde locks and sawed it off and deposited it into my lap. I just sat there in shock and cried as my mom continued to grab random handfuls of my hair and chop it off short.

After what seemed like an eternity the hair stopped falling in my lap and my mom handed the shears back to Chuck. Who during this whole shearing of my head just stood there watching in shock at watching a mother chop her own daughters hair off. My mom then turned the chair back around towards the mirror so I could get a look at her handy work. Upon getting a look in the mirror of my head now which sported uneven patches of short hair I really began to cry. My mother then went over took a seat and told Chuck to finish the haircut by using the clippers to give me a buzzcut. Chuck then turned me away from the mirror and then picked up the clippers and with no guard attached turned them on and proceeded to run them down the middle of the top of my head leaving a strip of tiny little hair. Chuck then quickly continued to run the clippers over my head reducing my hair down to stubble all over
my head. He finished buzzing the top and then he started on the right side and worked his way all around my head.
Chuck then shut off his clippers and returned them to the counter. He then turned me towards the mirror again and there I sat with a ¼ of inch buzz cut. I could not believe my eyes at seeing my short hair. Then I looked down at my blue capped lap that was now filled with blonde chunks of hair, which use to be on my head. I then looked at my mom in the mirror and she was all smiles at seeing my reaction to my new haircut. She then spoke up and said you will be a good little girl from now on won’t you? I nodded my head yes. She said you better be or we will be back for another haircut. Chuck then turned the chair back around and then took the cape off and shook it out and blonde hair flew every where.
So that is my barber shop experience I think I ended up going back there a couple more times because I was a bad little girl. But in all my return trips I never had an experience like I did that first time.