A Barbershop Job!? #3(Another Bald Kid) by Jonathan

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"Hey Caleb, are you coming in early on Saturday morning?" asked Mario.

"I'll be in by 9:30," I say.

I'm known as Cue Ball Caleb and I'm 16. I work at the Port Barbershop and have been here about one month. It is a great job for a kid like me in high school. I sweep up hair, clean, and help out customers. I keep small kids entertained while their dad's get their haircuts. I've even learned to make coffee. I make around thirty bucks a day on weekends, less on week nights.

I used to have long surfer hair. I'd had it like that for years. Well I'd been secretly desiring to shave my head. I'd look at bald guys and try to image what it's like to have no hair. Nothing getting in your eyes, no hair covering your ears and no brush needed. I was never brave enough and just didn't have the balls to shave my head. One day my grandmother gave me some money to spend any way I wanted. I was compelled to go into this place called the Port Barbershop. I walked in, sat down and got my head shaved bald! Just so fast like I was compelled to! That very same moment I was offered a job here by the lead barber Mario.

My stepdad started calling me Cue Ball Caleb and the new name stuck. Here I am a month or so later. I now get my head shaved once a week bald with the shaving cream and straight razor. My head has tanned up nice and brown. My new cue ball head has brought my good fortune. I'm a big hit around this shop. People at the beach love my new shiny shaved head too! I never would have dreamed shaving off my pretty boy hair would have been the best thing for me. I was so, so scared that first time too. Now I'm Cue Ball Caleb.

I just can't believe how much hair I sweep up each day at the shop. It comes in so many different colors. You'd never know this unless you sweep it all up. It's not just black, red, brown, gray, or blond. Each color has so many different hues. Then there's all the different textures. There's thin, thick, dull, shinny, straight, and wavy. I now see hair in my sleep!

I have the advantage of seeing so many haircuts here. I'm a haircut lover. I used to sit and watch in the window of the shop before I worked here. I'd look at guys go in and come out. Usually I'd watch from the bus bench across the street. It's like this fetish thing with me. I have time to kill. Our apartment is so small I stay away to give my mom and stepdad some space. I love the long haired guys that get their heads shaved. The whole idea is fascinating to me. Working here gives me a front row seat.

As I sit at my little table this Friday evening doing my homework I noticed this long haired Hispanic kid come into the shop. His hair is down to his shoulders, black and slightly wavy. He's in a waiting chair ready to get his haircut. There's about six barbers busy cutting hair. Four other guys are waiting on this busy Friday night. I can't help but notice his thick long mane. He is dark skinned and good looking. I fantasize about him shaving off all that long hair. How would he look bald? What do his ears look like under all that hair? How will he cut his hair? The moment will soon come!

I watch as he sits nervously waiting his moment in the chair. I decided to make him notice me. I get up and sweep some hair from around the chair of a barber that's just finished a haircut. I get a little eye contact with the kid, but then he quickly looks away. I wonder what he thinks about my shiny bald head? A month ago my hair was as long as his. Will he just be getting a trim? I can't picture him with short hair. Maybe it's going to get cut really short? Or just a trim.

I decide to go right over and pretend to straighten up the magazines next to him. I give him a head nod and this long haired kid nods me back. I say nothing and he says nothing. I notice he's got to be 15 or 16. It's seeming like forever for his turn to get his haircut. I kill up a little time by playing some games on my phone.

Finally after about thirty minutes he's in the barber chair closest to my little homework table. Carlos the barber puts the cape and tissue on this kid with the long black wavy hair.

"How did you want it?" asks Carlos.

"I'm not sure," says the kid.

"Well do you want a trim or a lot off?" asks Carlos.

"I think a lot off," says the kid.

"A regular haircut or a buzz cut?" asks Carlos.

"Well my family is after me to cut my hair, that's why I'm here. They want it short. My dad says I'm looking like a girl," says the kid.

"Hey do you want the Cue Ball Caleb special?" asks Carlos.

"What's the Cue Ball Caleb special?" asks the kid.

"Hey come here Caleb!" shouts Carlos.

I get up and walk over with my phone in my hand. I've been able to hear this entire conversation. There's a good chance this kid is taking off most of this beautiful mop. I knew this was going to be the best haircut of the night!

"Caleb, let him rub your shiny bald head," says Carlos.

The kid shyly runs his hand across the top of my head. It's been three or four days since it's been shaved so I've got some stubble. My head is slightly sand papery now.

"Whoa, that feels cool!" says the kid.

"Do you want it shaved like mine?" I ask.

"Feel that again," says Carlos.

The kid pushes his hand harder on the side of my head flicking my right ear slightly. He smiles this time.

"I don't know if I'm brave enough to do that," he says.

"My parents told me to cut all this long hair off, but I don't know about bald," the kid continues

"Well we can just cut it with the clippers you don't need the shaving cream. It would count as a Cue Ball Caleb special, 10% off for you!," Carlos tells him.

"Yeah a month ago I had long hair like yours man, I shaved it all off and it's just awesome!" I exclaim.

"Well, I guess," he says.

"So shave it bald?" Carlos asks.

"Ok," says that kid.

Oh wow! I get to sit back and watch this guy's long wavy black mane sheared off bald! I'm going to remember this haircut for awhile! It's going to be fun sweeping it all away and putting all that black hair of his in the trash.

I go back to my little table to watch. I notice the kid looks a little tense. I can't blame him. I wondered if I looked that nervous that first time I'd gotten my head shaved?

Carlos comes at this kid from the front with the powerful Oyster 76 clippers. He lifts the kid's wavy black bangs up front and digs in. The clippers make a swipe that appears to cut down to the white scalp. Carlos flips the first chunk of hair onto the floor. The kid looks scared and sad. I feel for him. I bet he's going to love it in a few days though.

Soon Carlos has taken a lot of this kid's hair off on top. You can see his face better now. His sides and back are still down to his shoulders. The contrast makes me want this haircut finished now. Carlos is ready to cut a side. He grabs hold of the black hair hanging straight down on the left side. He shaves into his scalp in front of the left ear. Off comes the sideburn completely. Carlos now shaves the hair away off the left ear. This reveals a large nicely shaped ear sticking in close to the head. Then fast as can be the hair is falling to the floor fast. I'm a little surprised at how much hair I'm going to need to sweep up from one haircut!

Carlos continues to clipper off the hair on the back of the kid's head. I can't believe the transformation that's taking place. This pretty boy is looking a lot tougher and meaner now shaved. He looks good though. I can't believe we talked him into the Cue Ball Caleb special!

Carlos comes over to the right side. He moves the Osyter 76 clippers around the right ear. This ear is identical to that large nicely shaped left ear. It seems to stick out just ever so slightly more than the left ear however. Now the kid's hair is just about gone. Carlos hangs up the Osyster 76 clippers on the hook. He grabs the smaller finishing trimmers and clicks them on. Then he runs them over, across and around this kid's head. It looks clean and nice. Bald! Wow, now this guy is bald like me! Carlos uses the straight razor just on the neck and around the ears. He doesn't use it to shave the kid's whole head with. I run over now to check it out.

"You're bald like me dude! It looks cool. Here, check it out in the mirror," I say.

"Oh, wow!" he yells.

"You like it?" I ask.

"Yeah, it's ok," he says.

I can tell he is a little shocked. Well a lot shocked! He'll get used to it like me though. I rub his head for luck and tell him to come back soon. He pays and walks out bald headed!

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