The barber called, "NEXT", for his next customer.

A young girl, about fourteen years old, walked to his chair. It was strange. She had a fresh bowl cut just above the ears with a number two buzzing on the sides and back.

She came with her mother. After placing the cape around her neck then pulling the cape around and pinning it in place, he inquired, "How do wanted her haircut".

Her mother quickly answered, ?Something very short, like a military haircut please?. She explained she was so upset because just four days ago she had taken her to get a nice short hair cut. And, now the Head Mistress at her school said, "Bowl cuts are not acceptable, that she should do something else. Otherwise she won?t be able to come back to school".

Since, she, the mother, thought she had spent too much money already on her daughter?s haircut, she wanted to make a point to the Head Mistress and her teachers so they won?t complain again. So, this time she wants a very short haircut.

When the mother sat in one of the waiting chairs, the young lady looked at me asking me to leave enough hair to comb and to cut as little as possible. She was so sad about having to cutting her hair shorter to please the Head Mistress and her teachers.

I started to comb very slowly, asking her how long she had the Bowl Cut. She said, "Two days. And, she was the only one at school with hair so long, when she was told she had to have short hair".

Well, no more talking. I wet all her hair, lift the bangs on the left side with my comb then took the scissors and looked at her in the mirror. I asked if she was ready.

The young girl couldn?t answer. She was looking horrified at the bangs I was going to cut. I took the scissors and cut about two inches of hair, leaving no more than half an inch. I kept cutting all the left side.

When I was finished, I stopped and let her look at the huge difference between her right and left sides. On her right side she still had nice hair hanging to about midway between the arch of her head and top of her ear. But, on the left there was almost no hair, giving her a new strange look. A tear started to appear in her eyes. She was trying hard not to cry.

After that pause I kept cutting all the hair left on the back and the right side, I did it slowly. I could see how she felt with anger and pain, every time I closed the scissors over what was her beloved hair. When I was done on the sides and back, I paused again and let her stared her new look. Tears where now in the middle of her cheeks.

I told her, "Well, lets cut on top. Now you will really see a difference".

After combing and lifting her hair with the comb I realized her hair was about four, or five, inches long. It was a pity to have to cut it so short, just to please the Head Mistress and her teachers at her school. I calculate it would take almost a year, without cutting, it to have it that long again.

But, this is my job.

So, I took the scissors and cut the piece I had in my hands to a half an inch. Again I did my job slowly, pushing to the front the already cut hair so it finally fell down over the cape where she could see it. She kept watching herself directly into the mirror. She was so helpless seeing huge amount of hair falling over the cape. From time to time I tried to talk to her but she didn?t answer any of my questions. I finally kept quiet and went on with my job.

I decided to leave it longer in the front, about one and half inches. But, when her mother saw me leaving the scissors, she came back and ask me to cut it down. And, asked me if I knew what a military haircut was. I was sorry for her daughter and told her that it was pretty short already.

But, she threatened me and said I didn’t know what I was doing.

Then, without a word I grabbed my clippers, with the quarter inch attachment, the top front was gone.

Now she wanted me to pass the clippers all over the sides and back. There was nothing to do.

Re-moving the attachment from the humming clippers, I pushed the young girl’s head with my left hand so her chin touched her chest. I heard a subtle plea of stopping while running the clippers, with no attachments, up in the back of her head. I cut off all the hair on the neck and over the ears.

When I let her head come up, she could see white skin showing, I finished her, nice and clean, haircut, I asked her if she liked the hair cut. But, again she was not able to speak because she was so afraid of crying out loud.

She just nodded and walk away?

THE END Copy right (c) September 2003