Lice at school by EvertonCable

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"Attention, parents of students. A lice case was discovered at school and ..." It wasn’t necessary to read the rest of the note. Mr. Nills held his son's head, Alisson, and made a quick inspection.

"You got any lice, Alisson?" He asked.

"No, Dad," said the boy. "Principal Oliver just handed that note and said nothing else."

"This is not good. When a child gets lice is only a matter of time until the whole school also gets them, especially now that it is summer. Son, if you get lice, I'm going to need to shave your head. Now go call your brother. Lunch is ready."

Shave the head? This was something that had never crossed Alisson’s mind. The 8-year-old boy liked his hair and was not ready to lose it. Alisson's hair was about two inches long at the top and one inch at the sides and back, and Alisson liked it that way. To shave the head was his worst nightmare, since he hated short haircuts. Actually, he wanted his dad to allow him to grow his hair a bit, like the boys at school, but that was off the table. The last time Alisson tried to convince his dad to let him grow his hair, the boy ended up with an extremely short Brush Cut.

Alisson went upstairs and went to his little brother's room, Leo, 5 years. Leo had the same haircut as Alisson because Mr. Nills thought that it was the perfect cut for his children. Unlike Alisson, Leo did not complain about cutting hair, but he did not care about much. They went downstairs and had lunch with their dad. After lunch, Mr. Nills called Leo to a corner, put his hand on the boy's head, and did an inspection as he had done with Alisson, and then asked if Leo had caught lice. After the lunch, he called Alisson and Leo and began to speak.

"Well, as the principal said they found out at school, I want you two to be careful. Lice are dangerous pests. They cling to your hair and suck your blood. And as lice spread very fast, I'm going to pass some rules to prevent you from getting lice. "

Rule #1 - Alisson and Leo are prohibited from lending caps, hats and other head accessories to other boys at school.

Rule #2 - They are also prohibited from wearing peer headgear.

Rule #3 - The two must undergo a thorough inspection on the head whenever they return home from school or from an encounter with friends who study at the same school.

Rule #4 - If one of the two pick up lice, will have the head completely shaved immediately. No treatment with expensive special shampoos.

Rule 5 - If one of the two complains or infect the other, will have the head shaved every day for the rest of the school year and vacation.

Alisson knew that his dad was very strict with rules and discipline, and that he could overdo it sometimes. But the fifth rule made him too frightened to antagonize his dad.

"Now go to do your homework", Mr. Nills finished.

The two boys came up to do their homework. Alisson finished them quickly and went to meet his friends. Before and after Mr. Nills reminded him of the rules. Alisson told his friends what his dad had said. All the boys had had a similar lesson except for the complete inspection of the head and the threat of shaving the head all school year long. Some boys said they had convinced their parents to buy the special shampoo if they got lice. When Alisson returned home, Mr. Nills was already waiting for him at the door for a inspection. Mr. Nills sat Alisson on a stool and stood behind the boy. Alisson could only hope that no one of his friends would pass by there and see that embarrassing situation. Alisson was released after five minutes of inspection. The things were on like this for the next three days. But on the fourth day, something happened.

Without finding his cap, Leo decided to take one of Alisson's caps to go to school. Since the two of them were going to school at different times, and Leo was coming home first, Alisson would never find out that Leo had touched with his things. Arriving in the school, Leo saw his best friend, Luke, wearing a new cap. Forgetting his dad's rules, Leo and Luke agreed to change their caps for the rest of the class that day. There was only one small problem: Luke had got lice the day before and his cap was full of lice. In a short time, the lice would start to ache in Leo's head. When classes were over, Leo and Luke changed back their caps and went home. Now Leo just needed to return the (contaminated) cap to Alisson's dresser and his brother wouldn’t know what had happened. Unfortunately for Leo, Alisson had arrived earlier that day, and saw the brother wearing his favorite cap. Immediately, Alisson took the cap off his brother's head and put it on his own head. "I'll tell Dad," Alisson said as he entered the house, followed by Leo.

Before either of them could say anything, Mr. Nills ordered Alisson take the garbage out, and told Leo to sit on a stool in the kitchen and wait for his dad to finish preparing the table for lunch. Mr. Nills could not help but notice that Leo was scratching his head a lot.

"Something wrong, Leo?" He asked in his serious voice.

"No, Dad," the boy replied.

Unconvinced, Mr. Nills stopped what he was doing and began an inspection on Leo. A few seconds were needed to confirm their suspicions. He found lice all over the boy's head. Leo had never seen his dad with so angry face in his life. He started yelling at his son. Mr. Nills was almost taking off his belt to beat Leo when Alisson came back.

"What's going on?" Alisson asked.

"It’s going on that this irresponsible boy has his head full of lice, even after everything I said."

Alisson's face went white.

"No. It isn’t possible. No, no. NO. "Alisson threw the cap on the floor and ran up the stairs to the bathroom.

"Alisson, what happened? ALISSON ". Mr. Nills shouted, taking the cap and going after the boy. "Do not get up of that chair, Leo. I'll be right back". Alisson was facing the mirror, fingering his hair. "What is it, son?"

"Leo was wearing my cap when he arrived. If he's got lice then ... "Alisson could not finish the sentence. Mr. Nill looked inside Alisson's cap. The cap was also full of lice. "Dad, do another inspection, please."

Alisson sat on the edge of the bathtub for his dad to do the inspection. Mr. Nills ran his hands over the son's head and found the lice.

"I have bad news, Ali."

Alisson said nothing. He was holding back the tears so he would not cry. He gathered the strength he had and said almost crying:

"It is not fair".

"No, it's not. I know you were careful; you spent all week trying to prevent it from happening. You're not to blame for what happened, Alisson. But you know what comes next, right? "

"Yes Dad".

They both went downstairs. Leo was standing. Your dad made another bad face when he saw him.

"I told you to sit down. But as you disobeyed one more order, I will give you another punishment later. Now explain yourself. "

Leo started to say, "I did not find my cap this morning so I went into Ali's room and got one of his caps."

"But Ali did not have lice, so how did you get them?"

"Well, I changed my cap with Luke at school. I kept his cap on until it was time to leave. When I arrived and Ali saw me with his cap and took it back. "

"You touched your brother's things without permission. You wore another kid's cap even after I told you not to. You got lice. And now you infected your brother too. You're in a lot of trouble, young man. We're going to have lunch now, and then we’ll go to the barbershop in the back street. And I do not want to hear any complaints. "

The three of them had lunch in silence. Leo was afraid to say something that would annoy his dad more, and Alisson could not say anything. After lunch, the three went to the barbershop. Alisson thought of how humiliating it would be when his dad yelled at the barbershop that he had lice, or when the barber cut his hair and saw them. He was almost begging his dad to cut his hair at home to avoid humiliation. But he said nothing. Leo apologized and tried to persuade his dad to forget the cut. But all he got was a threat of prolonging the punishment. If Leo said anything else, his head would shave for the next two years. They soon arrived at the barbershop. Mr. Nills told the boys to sit away from customers to avoid passing lice to them. He would talk to the barber and the boys would be waiting in the waiting area. They entered as they waited their turn. There were a few customers before so they had to wait about 40 minutes. Mr. Nills only said that the children had disobeyed his orders and would now have a haircut as punishment. He asked the barber to shave their heads completely and then rub shaving cream and razor. Alisson was the older of the two, so he was the first. Mr. Nills explained the true situation to the barber. Fortunately, the barber did not say anything about the lice. He picked up old hand clippers and went through the back of Alisson's head to the crown.

"Do not cry, Ali. You'll have your hair back after a few months."

"I know, Dad, but I'm going to be a laughing stock in school."

The barber finished with the back of the head and went to the sides. Alisson gave a quick peek his lap and saw more and more hair falling on him. This time he could not keep a tear to fall. The barber buzzed the top of his head and spread the shaving cream. Then he took a razor to finish. Then Alisson left the chair and Leo took his place.

"I like how you look in this cut, son. You look really good smart. If I were you, I'd keep my head shaved like that. "

"Uhm, did you really like it or are you trying to cheer me up, Dad?"

"Probably a little bit of both."

Alisson laughed a little and looked at Leo. Leo was already with the back and left side of his head shaved and the barber worked on the right side. Then he shaved the top, picked up cream, and the razor. The process was faster than Alisson's since Leo had slightly shorter hair. When the barber finished, Leo tried to look in the mirror to see what it looked like, but his dad would not let it.

"I hope you enjoyed the haircut, Leo. Because you're going to keep it for a long time from now." Mr. Nills stood up to pay for the cuts. He tipped and said thank you in a low voice to the barber for keeping the lice as a secret. As they left the barber shop, Mr. Nills said:

"Alisson, take your brother home. He must stay in his room and not be allowed out until I get back. Understood?"

"Yes Dad".

Alisson took Leo home while his dad entered another store. Leo did not want to stay in the room, but Alisson did him wait there. Mr. Nills came back five minutes later with a bag. He went into Leo's room and asked Alisson to come in as well.

"Leo, you disobeyed several of my orders today. That is why you will have a bigger punishment than I had said before. I will not send you or shave your head every day, but once a week for the next two years. And you won’t go to the barber. I'll shave your head myself at home. "

Alisson could not hold back the laughter when his dad said the last sentence. But when he saw the angry look on his dad's face, he shut up quickly. Leo tried to argue, but all he got was six more months of punishment. Only then he was allowed to look in the mirror. Mr. Nills took a barber kit out of his bag and said he would wear it from next Saturday.

The next day, at school, Alisson had to explain what had happened to his friends. He was already expecting jokes and nicknames, but that did not last long. It took less than an hour for everyone to stop joking and turn their attention to other things. For Leo, it was very different. He was a laughing stock all day. But the worst part was known that he "never again" (for the next 30 months) would have hair again.

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