Summertime Surprise by Deke Cutter (recovered)

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Summertime Surprise


By deke cutter

"It`s so hot!." Tim was a sweater...not the garment, the dripper, "schvitzing", wet collared kind. His long wavy hair was plastered against the sides of his head and hung lankly on his collar. Tim had walked home from the subway, about a mile away. His wife Katie, just shook her head and went about her business. Tim changed into his running clothes and headed out, headband round his head, water bottle in his hand. He came home an hour lately and Katie nearly fell out. He was soaked through and through. When Tim came down from his shower, Katie was sitting at the kitchen table. His hair was still damp and he had it pulled back. Katie said, "now don`t get mad, but honey, why don`t you consider getting that mop cut off, at least for the summer." Tim didn`t want to have this conversation. He loved his long wavy hair. He loved to push it out of his face, he loved the way it framed his features. He hadn`t ever really not had long hair. Two hours later, as the humid night continued, his hair was still damp. As they got ready for bed, Katie told him, "this is it, I am not having another spring and summer of your wet hair on me all night. Either you get it cut, or you are on the couch for the summer.

Saturday morning dawned, hot and muggy. Katie was up early. Tim came downstairs and said, "sorry babe, I called the salon, Tina is booked up, I can`t get in to see her for a week. Katie shook her head. "Tim, that will not work, why don`t you go up to the barbershop at the mall. Tony and Mike both get their haircuts there. Yeah right, thought Tim, neither of them has beautiful long hair like mine. But, Tim had been married long enough to know that this was not an argument he would win. So, he thought he would go, keep the haircut under his control. "I`ll get a bit of trim and that will be that.

Tim arrived at the barbershop and was surprised at how busy it was. He took a seat and took in the sights and sounds. This was so different from the salon he went to. He was surprised to see that some men actually did have fairly long hair and were getting it trimmed up a bit. This made him feel comfortable. He also saw quite a few very short haircut and this scared him. Katie had told him that Tony had recommended the second barber from the door and so, when his turn came, he got into the man`s chair. The barber introduced himself as Bill. What Katie had not told him was that Tony said that Bill was the barber who would "really scalp you, given half a chance." When Tim got in the chair, Bill started right in. "So, how short are we going? Its been pretty warm, I`ll bet you`ll feel better with shorter hair. You know you have a great face, you can wear your hair at any lenth. All the while, Bill was combing his hair out. Tim was so confused he didn`t know what to think. He stammered a bit and said, "umm, I think I just want a bit of a trim, a couple of inches at most." Bill heard "a couple of inches" and already knew how this haircut would end up. He immediately took out his scissors and began cutting away Tim`s hair. Since Tim was turned away from the mirror and Bill was throwing the cut hair behind him. He slowly went around Tim`s head taking the hair up from shoulder length to just covering the ears. Tim knew that his hair was being shortened, but in the close confines of the barbershop, he felt some kind of peer pressure to "man up." "You`re not cutting it too short are you?" Tim askded this trying to sound masculine yet cavalier. The barber replied "given you a couple inches, just like you asked." Next, the barber combed down Tim`s long bangs and cut them quite short. Tim was feeling more and more uncomfortable. The barber next shocked him by turning on the clippers. Tim nearly jumped out of the chair. The barber said, "I`m just cleaning you up, you are going feel nice and cool for the summer. With that he ran the clippers around Tim`s ears and then up and down Tim`s neck. By now, Tim was feeling defeated. He knew his hair was mostly gone. He sat quietly as the barber shaved around his ears and combed his very short hair into place. Bill the barber turned the chair around and Tim stared in stunned silence. His hair was almost all gone. The sides were most stuble. He had about two inches left on top. His bangs barely reached the middle of his forehead. Bill said, "there you go, I left a couple inches on top, just like you asked. This willbe nice and cool for the summer."

Tim got out of the chair and payed Bill who said to him "I`ll see you in about a month." Tim got into the car and looked in the vanity mirror on the visor. He looked like a soldier. He ran his hand up the back of his head and felt the stubble. It felt so funny. He looked so odd. When he got home, Katie threw her arms around him and said "darling, you look fantastic." When she ran her hands up and down his neck, "little Tim" suddenly jumped to attention. As they proceeded into the bedroom, Tim started looking forward to his haircut next month.


The End

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