A Sure Winner by Dave

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Type your story hereFinally the day had come for the big game. My best friend, Seth and I had made a bet on the outcome of this game. From what I had observed, I was a sure winner. I could taste victory even before the game began. I couldn’t wait to make my final decision -that being the winner would choose the haircut for the loser and that haircut had to be kept for one year. I could see Seth right now with a Mohawk. Seth in a Mohawk would be really outstanding. I didn’t tell Seth in advance. I had Dad’s clippers all set and so was the razor.

Well! Seth arrived at my house and we prepared the snacks before the game began. I asked Seth if he was ready to lose that long hair of his. His hair was down past his shoulder blade. His blonde hair was fine and had a good amount of curl to it. My hair is black and straight. My hair is very thick and is down past my shoulder blades - almost to the waist. Of course Seth said, “I’m not going to lose my hair. You are the one who is going to lose yours.” As the game began, Seth said, “Here’s to you Cory. It won’t be long now before your new hairstyle will begin.” I laughed as I said, “Seth! This is just like taking candy from a baby! I really should give you some points, but Nah! I can’t wait to see the blonde curls floating down the floor!”

The first quarter the teams were evenly matched. Each had scored a field goal. The second quarter began with my team receiving the ball and wouldn’t you know it, a kickoff was returned for an 82-yard touchdown. I said, “YES!” My team tried for the extra point by running the ball and scored 2 points. I looked over to Seth and made the sign of scissors cutting his hair. He looked at me and said, “Cory! Not to worry! The game is young and my team is going to come back strong.” I said, “SURE!”

At the half, the score was 11 to 3. I felt great as we took time out to get our drinks and talk about our bet. I could see the Mohawk more vividly now. I thought Seth’s hair would look great in a 3 inch Mohawk all the way from the forehead to the base of his neck. I couldn’t decide if I wanted it to be 1 ½ inch wide or maybe wider. I would have to think about it the second half when my team would put it away and victory would be mine.

The second half began by my team receiving the ball. Wouldn’t you know, our man fumbled the ball and recovered it. I almost couldn’t stand the excitement. On the next play, the ball was intercepted and the ball was taken in for touchdown. Seth looked over at me and grinned. They tried for the extra point and made it. We were still one point ahead. To Seth, I said, “We’ll will come back. You just wait and see.”

Well things went from bad to worse. It seemed that my team was running out of steam and they were making some terrible errors. When the third quarter ended, the ‘tide had turned.’ Seth was ahead by one touchdown. Seth looked at me and said, “I can taste victory.” Of course my confidence was still in my team and was sure they would get their act together and pull this out yet. I would hate to have to give up my idea of a blonde Mohawk.

The fourth quarter was a total disaster for my team. Nothing went right for them. When the game began, I was sure to be the winner. Now my mind wasn’t on the game, but the sure possibility that I was going to lose some if not all of my hair. Well! Now it was one minute before the game was over and we were behind by a considerable number of points, too many to make up. I had lost.

Seth looked over at me, smiling and said, “Do you want me to begin the cut now or do you want to see our team get the ball and score one more touchdown?” I looked at him and said, “The game is over until the time runs out.” So I sat there and watched Seth’s team score one more touchdown. My fate was sealed. All I could think about now was what kind of a haircut was I going to have to wear for the next year. I was hoping it would be a crewcut, a buzzcut, or even a head shave.

The game was over and we cleaned up our mess and Seth motioned for me to have a seat on the tall bar stool. He put a piece of sheet around me and said, “Well! Now! Let’s see, “What I can do for you today?” What made me uneasy was he was enjoying this and the cutting hadn’t begun yet. Of course I am sure I would have been grinning if I had won, so I didn’t mind it.

The first thing that Seth did was to comb my hair and then parted the hair on the right side and left side and pulled the hair back into a ponytail. He clicked on the clippers and began cleaning away the hair on the right side. The first swipe got rid of my long sideburns I had been cultivating for about 3 months. I sure am going to miss them. Before long, the clippers were advancing around the side of my head and under the ponytail. I thought, ‘I am going to get to keep most of my long hair - just the undercut in the back and sides cut close. When the clippers stopped, Seth stood back and smiled. I said, “May I see?” Seth held up a big mirror and I liked what I saw. I then said, “You aren’t going to shave the clipped area are you?” Seth indicated he wasn’t and I felt relief.

To my complete surprise, Seth fired up the clippers again and began right up front of my forehead. He moved the clippers slowly back across the top of my head. Instantly I thought, ‘Oh! God! He is going take it all off.’ I looked up at Seth and I could see the sadistic smile on his face. What did surprise me was that he didn’t go all the way back to the crown, but stopped about 3 inches before he got there. When he finished, he had run the clippers all over the top of my head except for the area around my crown.

‘I thought, don’t tell me he is going to make me walk around all year with just a ponytail. That would be awful.’ Just as I was hoping that he would let the hair down and the keep on clipping until it was all cut short, I felt Seth release the hair that remained on my head. I could feel it fall down touching my neck. I knew the hair was much longer than the base of my neck. Seth combed that patch of hair and got rid of any stray hair that was trapped. He then secured the hair and began clipping around the patch, making sure it was even. He let me hold the mirror and watch. I thought it was interesting and I was ready for the moment to come when he would take the clippers and plow right into that huge lock of hair.

When Seth turned off the clippers, I thought he was going to torture me a little with anticipation and then the final cutting would begin. Instead, he lathered up the clipped area and began shaving. He took his time and shaved the clipped area twice until it was so smooth it felt like glass and then he put a shine on it. He released my hair and let it fall down and then he combed it. He asked me how I liked it. I said, “Great Seth! Now Finish it!” Seth said, “OK!” I thought he would be taking the clippers and finish removing the hair. Instead, I noticed that he was messing around with the hair. I didn’t have the mirror at that time so I didn’t what he was doing. All of a sudden I felt the hair that remained, becoming really tight on my head. I thought, ‘what could he be doing that would make it feels so tight.’

Seth worked back of me for about 10 minutes and finally he said, “There! PERFECT!” He handed me the mirror and couldn’t see anything until I turned my head a little. I almost passed out. He had braided my long, thick hair into one giant braid. I looked like Yule Brenner in one of his movies where he was a soldier in Outer Mongolia. My head was completely shaved except for that one big braid. I said, “Seth! You’re kidding aren’t you? I am not going to have to shave my head and leave this braid?” Seth smiled and said, “No! Of course not!” I thought, ‘that’s a relief.’ Then Seth continued, “I will drop by each day and shave it for you. I’ll even unbraid your hair and wash it for you and the braid it again. I want to make sure you look perfect each day.” My heart sank! I could tell he was serious and then I thought, ‘had I won, I would definitely want Seth to keep his Mohawk looking sharp each day for the entire year.

I couldn’t believe what Seth chose for me. How was I going to explain it to our friends? Oh! Well! Life is interesting. The following morning, I looked in the mirror and could see the dark hair showing all over my head so I began the day by slowly and carefully shaving my head. It took some time but I got it done and the braid was in place. It felt so strange.

About half an hour after I had finished breakfast, Seth knocked on the door. When I opened the door, Seth reminded me of our appointment to get our pictures taken. I had completely forgotten about that. I had insisted on it since I was so sure I would be wearing my long, straight, black hair and Seth would have his blonde Mohawk. I said, “Seth! Are you sure you want to go through with this? I wouldn’t mind if you decided not to do it. Seth smiled and said, “I wouldn’t miss this chance in a million years.”

He was carrying two clothing bags and I noticed someone was with him. Seth introduced me to a makeup artist he knew, Soonie. I asked him what he had in mind. He told me and I thought I was going to fall through the floor. Here he was, ready for his big moment. I had talked about dressing Seth up in some kind of costume after his special haircut and the having the picture made. Well! Seth was a good listener. He took up the idea and came up with something I hadn’t thought of and I really got to thinking about when they entered. I thought, this could be most interesting.

Seth had in mind that I was going to be made up to look like a Mongolian and he had brought with him a costume for me to wear as well. Soonie was soon working on me. I had no idea what she was doing. I loved her gentle touch as she put on the makeup. I found out, she had really used very little make up, but enough to transform me into the character she and Seth had in mind. When I looked in the mirror, I wouldn’t believe what I saw. It was really wild and I thought it looked really cool.

To complete the transformation, I was given the outfit to put on and when I finished, I really looked like the figure Yule Brenner portrayed in the movie. While I was getting ready, Seth had changed into an outfit of a nobleman of that time period. The black outfit sure did make his blonde hair stand out.

When we got to the studio, the photographer couldn’t believe his eyes. He was really taken back. Seth told him of the bet and what he wanted. The photographer asked me if I was in agreement of the pictures and I told him I couldn’t wait to see the proofs. The photographer really worked hard and took many pictures. When we finished, Seth had something else planned. I didn’t know about it, but he had booked us a reservation into one of the most expensive restaurants in town. I was planning on changing cloths and hiding my huge braid under a hat, but Seth had other ideas. I wasn’t going to be allowed to change.

We arrived and we went in. Our table was waiting and of course, Seth had chosen a table in the middle of the room, where we would be seen by all patrons eating there that day. I then figured, ‘what the heck! They may think we are in movies and we were in costume for a scene in a movie.’ I really enjoyed myself as well as the food. When we left, Seth then told me we were going to go shopping in the biggest mall around. Of course we got a lot of stares.

I don’t know why, but Seth had thought things through and made me feel comfortable in my new haircut. As the day, ended, I then realized I had 364 more days to have this braid. I showered each morning after I shaved and I let the water flow over the braid. I had noticed that the tightness of the braid had long since left me. I said something to Seth about it and he said, it was time to take the braid out, wash the hair and re-braid. When Seth finished, the tightness was there again, and as the hair dried, the braid got even tighter.

The proofs arrived at Seth’s and he brought them over for me to look at. I couldn’t believe my eyes. I had forgotten just how fantastic the makeup was. I loved the pictures. We settled on two of them and Seth said he would have some made.

By the time summer was over, my skin had tanned really nicely and the braid looked even better. Believe it or not, I had begun to think about keeping the braid - one thing for certain, I hadn’t seen anyone else with such a haircut. Lucky for me, I work for a company where I am out of doors and the braid didn’t present any problem.

The year was almost up and Seth wanted to know if I wanted to make another bet on the game to be played between our two teams. I told him I sure did and couldn’t wait to give him his long overdue Mohawk. Well needless to say, I lost again. I had no idea what Seth had in mind this time. When the doorbell rang, there stood Soonie with Seth right behind her. I didn’t know what they had planned, but Seth was carrying two clothing bags like before.

Soonie had me sit down and she began. When she finished, there I was looking even better than the original makeup. Yep! Seth decided I was to keep the braid another year. When Soonie finished, I thanked her and Seth. I told Seth, I was glad he wanted me to keep the braid. I got used to it and liked it. You guessed it, we were in the same costumes, we went back to the same restaurant and had the same table right in the middle of things. Everyone looked and I must say we made a most impressive pair. Seth had had his hair trimmed a little and it sure did look great against the black outfit. When we arrived back to my home, Seth handed me something from his trunk. He said I couldn’t open it until we got inside. When I unwrapped the package, there was a beautiful life size picture of our portrait. It was beautifully framed. There was a note that said, “Happy Anniversary.” I thanked Seth for the gift and had a place for it - right up over my mantle in my den. When we got it in place, it was a fitting place for it. I couldn’t get over Seth’s thoughtfulness.

I didn’t tell Seth, but I wasn’t going to bet with him again, since I really liked the look and wanted to keep it. When the ‘game’ came around again, I told Seth and he just smiled and said, “I too would hate to see you lose that look.” Yep! Each year on my anniversary, we get dressed up as before and have out night out in the restaurant. Yep! The same table right in the middle of the action.

I know there will come a time when the hair will be receding and I will lose my braid, but I will enjoy it as long as Mother Nature is kind to me.

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