The Agreement by Raldo (recovered) by Gator

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The Agreement
By Raldo

The snow was falling steadily as David stood up and glanced out of the barbershop window and moved reluctantly across to the big leather chair feeling a little awkward and slightly uncomfortable at his impending situation. The barber wasted no time in wrapping the cape tightly around his neck and starting to comb out his thick brown head of hair that covered his ears and collar. When asked how he would like it cut he quickly replied “short back and sides with plenty off the top…the shorter the better”.

The barber didn’t question him any further, he picked up the clippers from the shelf took firm hold of the top of David’s head pushed it forward until his chin was resting on his chest and began removing large chunks of hair high up the back of his head. David looked down in horror as vast amounts of hair slid down the cape, he began to wonder why he was doing this but it was too late now. In no time at all the barber had stripped the back and sides of his head of almost all the hair right up past the temples, he looked at a stranger staring back at him from the mirror with just a mass of hair on top of his head. The barber soon made short work of the top hair cutting it down to an inch and starting to blend it with the severely cropped sides. The barber went over and over the haircut until he seemed happy that he had shaved it down as close as he could get on the sides tapering up to small amount that remained on top.

When he was finally happy with his work he spayed hair tonic on it created a side parting and combed it sharply to the side. He released the cape and brushed David’s neck to remove any stray hairs and then held up a hand mirror to show him the results. David was feeling even more uncomfortable and self-conscious and quickly nodded his approval even though he had done his best to avoid too close a scrutiny of his severely cropped head. He stood up feeling a little stiff and uncomfortable in the new dark business suit and shirt and tie that would now be his new image – he had up to now been more at home in jeans and trainers. The reflection he saw in the mirror looked for all the world like a slightly out of time and place younger version of his father just like the old photographs of him in the family album. He paid the barber and gave him a large tip, the snow was still falling steadily as he peered out of the steamed up window and pulled on the long dark overcoat. He nodded a brief thank you and good-bye to the barber before opening the door and stepping out self-consciously into the cold winter morning and facing the world.

Even though he hadn’t wanted to go through with the haircut he found it impossible to resist the urge – he reached up and slowly ran his ice cold hand up the back of his cropped and shaved head lingering momentarily as the shock wave sent a shiver down his spine. Still feeling a little awkward and vulnerable he raised his collar and pulled it as high as he could in a vain attempt to hide his newly cropped head but the roughness of the woolen overcoat only emphasized the sensation of nakedness on the back and sides of his head. He walked briskly down the road towards the shopping mall, the winter wind and snow biting into the shaved skin around the back and sides of his head. The sensations he was feeling stirred distant childhood memories and at the same time he began to realize he was actually enjoying the whole experience.

Up to this point he had been so eager for the haircut to be over and be on his way to his father’s office that he realized he had not really taken the time to look at himself and assess the damage. He made his way into a men’s outfitters, shaking the snow from his coat. He was immediately confronted by a full length image of himself and was truly shocked at just how different he looked – older, more authoritative and business like – it could have been his father just a few years ago – the way he looked in the old photographs of him dressed almost the same and with an almost identical haircut – it made David smile. He had never much cared for the way his father had his hair cut, he thought it was way too short but he had to admit that it did always look really sharp and no nonsense on him and now looking at himself in the shop mirror it began to dawn on him that it looked better on him than he could have ever hoped for.

The salesman approached and David was immediately struck by a difference in the way he was treated – he could get used to this he began to think. He had intended buying a hat to hide under until he felt more comfortable but gave up the idea after trying on several and realizing that he wanted to show off his new look. He left the shop and stepped back into the cold winter street pulling his collar up but walking more proudly and self-confidently. He walked around for a while enjoying the bitterly cold chill on his freshly barbered naked skin and thinking to himself how only a short while earlier he had been sitting in the barber’s chair with the cape fastened tightly around his neck and asking the barber to crop his hair so short. He realized that he may as well make the most of it and enjoy the experience since this was the new image he had agreed to adopt for the foreseeable future. Thinking back to when he first made this agreement, it seemed an eternity ago – how quickly five years passes. It only seems like months ago that he was rebelling against the authority of his father and wanting to grow his hair longer. In the end he had made an agreement with his father to put aside the student image and conform to his standards when he started working for the family company.

It had been easy to agree to anything back then because in David’s mind the future was a long way off and it would never get to the point where he would really have to get a haircut – but how wrong he was and now the day had finally dawned. His father had already provided him with a new wardrobe of clothes and told him how he expected him to have his hair cut, which barber to use and even how often he should get his haircut freshened up. To start with he had considered walking away and not keeping his side of the agreement but he would be turning his back on more than he was prepared to, so he accepted the challenge. It was now something of a surprise to him just how quickly he was fitting into his new self and how much he had enjoyed the sensations of extreme clipper work up the back and sides of his head and the new pleasure of seeing his reflection in the shop windows as he headed back to his car.

It was only a short drive to his father’s company offices where he was introduced to some of the other staff. As he stepped out of the car he straightened his tie and suit and slowly ran his hands over his close cropped hair and up the back of his shaved neck enjoying the moment and smiling to himself at the radical change he’d undergone. No one at the company knew David so they would only ever know him as he was now; this increased his self-confidence as he walked down the corridor. He made his way to his fathers office gave a quick knock and entered.

Even though he was expecting it there was a look of shock on his father’s face and a long pause before he began to smile. He walked over and shook David’s hand and told him just how good he thought he looked. He was even more surprised when he realized just how happy David was with his new look and how much he was looking forward to a new future that would definitely include regular visits to the barbers and very short haircuts with his father.

The End

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