?What a night,? Will thought as he pulled himself out of the cab. It was the monthly poker night and this one had gone longer than expected. The night had started at the local hang out for dinner and a couple of drinks. There was a new waitress, and what caught his eye was not that she had a tattoo on her elbow, but how much she looked like his wife. They had the same face, build and even walked and talked the same. Of course the vodka could have blurred things a bit, but even his buddies agreed. The two could have been twins, except for the hair. The waitress had about three inches on top that tapered to very short hair on her neck. Will wondered if Gina would look the same if she had the same hairstyle.

He thought about the waitress all during the game. What would it be like to make love to Gina without the hair, to run his hands up and down her neck, to run his hands through her hair without hitting a tangle? It was a miracle that he ended up with the $10 for the cab ride home. Only the fact that he kept drinking and he slurred his thoughts that none of the guys were the wiser. All the way up the stairs, into the bedroom, as he undressed, what would Gina look like? As he moved her hair off the pillow, he wondered. What if?.?

She woke with a heavy sigh. Without opening her eyes, she knew it was Sunday. She had not heard Will come home, but knew he was in the bed. She was glad he had his monthly night with the guys; he needed the companionship. But she also knew he would pay all day with the hangover.

As she started to stretch, she opened her eyes. Something was different. Not that she could put her finger on it, but something was not right. Or was it? She was just waking up. She closed her eyes and rolled over to snuggle against Will. There was something different. She reached to move the hair from between the pillow and her face and realized the problem. There was no resistance to her hair. As she sat up, her hair did not follow her, but stayed on the pillow. She started to scream and ran into the bathroom to look in the mirror.

Will struggled to focus as the hangover engulfed him. Gina was screaming ? why? He tried to pull himself together and stand up. When he got to the bathroom, Gina was standing with her hair in what looked like a pulled a ponytail, hanging down on one side. ?What?s wrong? Are you okay??

?Look at this??

?What??

?My hair!!! Look at my hair!!!?

Will focused on the side of her head. There were patches of short and super short hair. The other side was as he remembered ? hair that fell past her breasts. He then looked again at the short hair. ?Why did you cut your hair??

Gina whirled around and glared at him. ?My darling husband,? she said through grinding teeth, ?I was not the one who cut my hair! And since there is no other person in this house, maybe you should answer the question. Why did YOU cut my hair??

Suddenly, Will found himself sitting on the edge of the tub. The waitress and her hair came flooding back into his thoughts. What had he done? He did not remember anything, but he must have done it. He left Gina staring in the mirror and crying as he walked into the bedroom. The sunlight fell on the bed and he saw the long strands of hair. As he walked around to start gathering the mess, he saw something glisten in the light. Nail clippers. Will wondered why they were in the bed. He picked them up and saw they were open. Worse, he saw a strand of long hair fall from them. Then it came back to him. Reaching for the nail clippers and looking at Gina?s hair. Beyond that, he could not force anything from his memory. But he must have tried to style Gina?s hair using nail clippers.

He did not see Gina was standing at the foot of the bed. She had realized what had happen as well. He confessed the thoughts of the waitress and offered the sincerest of apologies. And he was sorry, for he would never have done anything to hurt her. She was angry but also a realist. She knew something would have to be done. She wrapped a towel around her hair and told him the least he could do it go out and pick up breakfast for them.

After what seemed to be the longest meal of their lives, she picked up the scissors off the desk and went upstairs to the bathroom. Will followed, not because she asked him or that he wanted to watch, but that he knew he should be there.

She took the towel off of her head and dropped it to the floor. Trying not to cry, she brushed out the remains of her long locks. She looked at what the one side and then the other. She pulled a lock from the top of her head and tried to match the length next to it. A snip later and two inches were on her head and nineteen in her hand. More snips brought more hair in her hand, which she held out for Will to take. Then Gina ran into a dilemma. There was section on her crown much shorter than the hair around it. She sighed and just started cutting the long lengths, leaving just over a couple of inches of hair. This let her see more of the damage and there were plenty of spots where the hair was noticeable shorter. But she had done all she could and Will said he was not going to touch it. At this point, she broke down and cried again.

After about an hour of self-pity, Gina pulled herself together and went downstairs. ?I called around and, as I suspected, no salons are open. However, there is a barbershop open near the mall. Will you drive?? He knew she was having a hard time. As he reached to hug her, she pushed him away. ?Just get the car.?

They pulled into the parking lot and Gina sat there. Will got out, walked around and held the door open for her. As if she were in a play, she got out and walked in the shop. There were only two men, both sitting in chairs and reading the paper. ?Are you the young lady who called?? Gina could only nod yes. ?Come over here and let?s see what we can do. I can?t promise what you would get in a salon, but I will save what I can.?

The barber started to assess the situation and Will sat on the bench. ?Well, you have long and short, some almost to the scalp. Because the short sports are all over the one side and part of he top, I can?t really layer it. The best I can offer is taking it to the shortest all over and let it grow back out. Did you say it was past your breast? Shame, shame. So thick, bet it was beautiful.? Gina burst out crying. Looking at Will, the barber fussed, ?You should be ashamed of this! Look what you have done to this beautiful girl!? But Will could not look, only think about what she would look like and how he never meant to do this.

Gina once again composed herself. ?Do what you have to do. Just do it quickly, please.? She unconsciously reached for her hair and felt the scruffy mane. She looked over and saw the barber adjust the clippers, She had never had clippers used on her and she was afraid.

He placed the cape on her and some tissue on the neck. ?To catch hairs.? Gina started to tear up. With a gentle voice, he said ?Now young lady, I know you are stronger than that. I am going to use a number three, which will leave you with some hair, but it will be short. I just want you to be prepared. Like you said, I am going to do this as quickly as I can. Should only take a couple of minutes.? With that, he turned on the clippers, placed one hand on the back of her head and the moved the clippers straight back over the top of her head. Gina?s eyes flew open. Will could not take his eyes off her hair. Path after path, her hair fell away. Will discovered he was aroused. Gina found herself pushing into the clippers. When the clippers went up her neck, she crossed her legs. Will grabbed a magazine and placed it on his lap. Suddenly, the clippers stopped. At that moment, Will met Gina?s eyes in the mirror. They both knew they had discovered something about themselves.

Gina looked at her hair in the mirror. ?Isn?t that section shorter that the rest? What about here? And here? Will, can you see the differences in length?? He came over and agreed. It would have to go shorter.

?The only thing I can do for you two is no guard. She will have no hair, you do understand that? If you wait a week or so, it will have grown out and I can even it up.?

?Well,? Will touched her head, ?it seems bald now anyway, so why not go all the way? Does that sound okay with you??

?Yes, no guard. Not what I had planned when I woke up this morning, but I can live with that for now.?

The barber smiled to himself as he removed the guard. He knew what had just happened. As they left a few minutes later holding hands, he knew they would be okay. And this was confirmed the next week when Will asked for the same haircut. They became regulars every Friday evening, leaving with identical haircuts, only taking a break for the couple of weeks after the birth of their first child. And if he old barber did the math correctly, it was just about nine months after he first met the young couple.