Thanks to Uncle John by Armando94

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Thanks to Uncle John


Being 16 years old can really suck sometimes. But what’s worse than just already being sixteen? Well, all the usual crap that comes with it, no need to get into the nitty gritty details: voice, acne, teeth, and just your looks in general, you name it. Looks, well, and then there are some who don’t really care too much for them. Take for instance James, or Jim to most, since James is his father. He didn’t not care about life though, don’t get me wrong. Sure he had friends, he hung out with them on weekends, he kept his grades decent. He didn’t really know what he wanted as a career yet, maybe he would just go into a trade, and that was totally fine. But the presentation he gave to the world, well…it would make you think otherwise.

It wasn’t his fault though that he still had braces at sixteen, and all his other friends had already gotten theirs taken off. He just didn’t want to get to seventeen, and then eighteen, and still be visiting the orthodontist. Jim knew the payoff would be well worth it, but he’d been in these things for nearly four years at this point, which really wasn’t bad compared to some others in the past. But he still got the occasional "brace face" comments, not withstanding the fact he wore these thick-rimed Clark Kent glasses that made him look like he was from the sixties. And about every third week, a pimple or ten would appear freshly across his face, forcing him to hide away even more. Perhaps why sometimes he wished that the sprouts of facial hair he only ever got would just "Come on" already, maybe a beard would help cover that up. But it was hopeless, none of his relatives really wore facial hair nor grew it at extreme rates. He could maybe dress a little better, that is, if he just shopped for himself and not just casually accept whatever his mother got for him, no matter how much of a child some of it made him feel like.

And of course, his hair, hanging in lank frizzes around his face, covering his ear and touching towards his collar. Not even in the unkempt yet neat look of those TikTok wannabe boys from school. Jim’s hair always gave the appearance of fresh out of bed rather than fresh out of the barbers. His parents never made him get a haircut regularly, and even as he got older and was allowed to grow it, they still did not change their minds. Occasional trims, that was all. Its not like he was looking to ask any girl out on a date, none would ever even look his way. Partially because his lackluster effort at appearance, and he was fine with that. Why be bothered with all that?

His family was very close, and not just his immediate family of his parents and all his siblings who were already away at college or moved-out. His extended family all lived within the same county so he saw a lot of them very often. And by very often, yes, that definitely means every weekend there was some kind of event or hangout, even if very brief, that he interacted with aunts and uncles and cousins and the whole lot of them. But sometimes it was fun, since there were so many of them. Tons of eating and good food, that was always nice. As he got older though, his cousins and some uncles would not let him shy away from playing the occasional backyard sport with him though. He mostly stood around and was a background player, but nonetheless, had to give the appearance he was a team player.

On one particular Sunday, hosted at Jim’s place, they were playing a game of flag football, which really, was touch football, or more like tackle. That is, everyone else was pretty much playing it, and Jim was on the field, idly standing there, until BAM! He started seeing stars…

"Alright he’s breathing," his cousin Dan called out to everyone that wasn’t huddling and breathing on top of him. A few of the other cousins helped lift him up as Jim squinted out at the sun in both a daze from its brightness but also his own legal blindness.

"Someone know where my glasses went?" Jim asked softly out loud.

"Uhh… about that," another cousin, Collin, started to say, before revealing what he had been holding behind his back. "Sorry cos, who would have thought the ball could break them."

"They were, like, ten years old those glasses," another cousin snickered.

"Shut up, Kevin," Dan fought off. "Sorry Jim, it was an accident. Maybe about time you get contact lenses, don’t you think?"

"I have contacts," Jim mumbled.

"What?" Dan said. "Did you say you have contacts? Then why the hell don’t you wear them, man?"

"I don’t like wearing them," Jim said back.

"Well that’s because you don’t give them a chance," Dan slapped him on the back and turned him around, with the other cousins following in pursuit.

They went into the house and harassed Jim until he told them where the contact lenses were kept in his bathroom. Of course, they all followed him in, cornering him in. "Well go on then," the one cousin Kevin said, "put them on, Helen Keller."

Jim shrugged it off but knew he had to put them on, otherwise he wasn’t going to get out of this bathroom alive. So, he did as he was ordered to, and, much to his surprise…they were a lot easier to put on then when he remembered the first time he ever tried to. Jim blinked back in the mirror and voila, everything was picture perfect clear, and he wasn’t even wearing his glasses.

"Not so bad right?" Dan said.

"What’s got all you ladies gathered here," another voice interrupted. "Someone getting their period for the first time?"

It was Uncle John, one of Jim’s father’s younger brothers. "You took a beating out there, Jim," he said to his nephew. "You alright?"

"Yes sir," he said back to the former army officer.

"Don’t you think Jim should wear his contact lenses instead, Uncle John?" Dan said to the adult in the room, and all the other boy cousins asked the same or said "Yeah yeah".

"He should, that way he doesn’t have to worry about breaking his glasses again," Uncle John said. "And if you see just the same Jim, and they weren’t a hassle to put on, why not?"

"They were easy enough," Jim softly offered up.

"Well, then you should," Uncle John gave him a curt nod but this other knowingly yet mysterious look in his eyes before he left all the boy cousins alone. Eventually everyone gathered for a large dinner followed by an equally large assortment of dessert.

Once everyone was starting to retire for the night and go home, Jim and his parents said goodbye to them all, Uncle John and his wife and their three daughters some of the last to leave. Their elder brother was currently shipped off on a tour, making his father very proud and his mother always slightly worried. They all said goodbye, and Uncle John shook Jim’s hand real firm and said, "Make sure you take a good shower, son, after that football earlier," and then he casually, without anyone noticing, passed a hand through Jim’s hair ever so slightly. "See you around this week," which Jim didn’t know what to make of any of that.

So that night, after showering off the great outdoors, and Jim passed the towel through his golden tresses, he then combed a hand through his hair just like his uncle did an hour of so before departing. It now sent a cold shiver down Jim’s spine even after taking a hot steaming shower. Why had his uncle made that unspotted pass? As Jim blow dried his long hair, he couldn’t help wondering why his uncle did that. His uncle looked like the complete opposite from him, the dark hair of Jim’s father’s side, except Uncle John wore it neat and short, beyond neat and short if you were really asking Jim. Skin on the sides and just barely enough left up top and a little in the front, as if he was still serving. He did work at a nearby army base, that was true, but he was no longer on active duty. Yet he still gave the impression he did, must be something you learn and can never give up from that life.

The next day after school, he came home to a surprise waiting for him on the front counter, saying: "Jim—your cousin Jack used these when he was in high school, cleared up his face in no time and never went back." It was a few different kinds of face washes and such, Jim thought it was nice enough, no harm to it at all. So, he went up to his bathroom and decided he’d try some out, and then would do the same later that night. He knew the change wouldn’t be instant, but with some luck, this acne would go away. And perhaps once and for all, he never remembered his cousin Jack ever having a spot or blemish once. Even though they were five years apart, Jim could still remember that far back. Perhaps this would be a good thing.

A few days later, he had another check-in at the orthodontist. Fearing the bad news of them saying "Just a little while longer now, and you’ll be all done." This had been happening since this past spring, and was nearly going to six months now. So, after the one hygienist checked his teeth, and the orthodontist then came over, Jim calmly and casually remaining still, taking deep breaths in anticipation of the bad news, he was suddenly shocked when the orthodontist said. "I think its time, these braces have done their work. And good job to you too, Jim, you’ve taken care of your teeth it seems."

"Really?" Jim was so excited, but contained his energy. Then when he sat up and out of the chair, and the orthodontist brought him back to the waiting area where his mother sat, the doctor explained that they could make an appointment for Jim to have his braces removed.

"We can have him in as early as next Thursday," the receptionist said, as they started to look at dates.

"Yes," Jim said, before anyone else could interject their thoughts or plans. He was finally getting his braces off. He didn’t care about having to wear a small retainer in his mouth every night for the rest of his life, as long as it got these suckers off, he would do it.

That night, as he was getting ready for bed, he went to take out is contact lenses, but then paused in the mirror. He looked at himself like he never had before. No more glasses, soon his teeth would be clean and free, and hell, even his skin was subsiding. Not magically to nothing, but at least the redness had dialed down a whole lot, and maybe by next week it would look virtually gone. Jim had never prided himself with his outward appearance before, but as he stared back at himself, he was starting to feel good about it all. Maybe things would turn around.

The following Thursday, he got signed out of school early, around 11. Maybe he would come back in the later afternoon, maybe not. He didn’t really care, he was just so excited for what was to come very soon, he could hardly contain his excitement, he hardly focused at all in his morning classes. When he got called down over the intercom of his math class to report to the office, he jumped out of his seat before his teacher could even say "Okay" back to the receptionist.

He grabbed his things in a daze from his locker and then b-lined it for the office. His head in the clouds, feeling good about everything, he stepped into that office proudly as if he was accepting an award.

"Hey Jim," his Uncle John greeted him, as he was chatting up the two receptionists. "Ready to go?"

"Uh—sure," Jim casually said, and then turned back around out of the office. What was going on?

"Where’s my mom? O-or dad?" Jim quivered.

"Well your parents both got real tied up at work, so, its been left to me to take you to your appointment," he slapped his nephew on the back. "I was more than happy to step in and help out. You must be stoked to have that metal out of your mouth."

"Y-yes," Jim tried to remain calm as he got into the passenger seat of his uncle’s pick-up.

"A whole new look for you today, son," his uncle grinned. "Hey, looks like that stuff I gave you last week seems to be improving your skin already," Uncle John lightly touched one of Jim’s cheeks, slowly grazing a finger or two towards some of the lank hair of his stick out towards his face. "Fantastic," he announced as he pulled his hand away and started up the car.

The process of removing the braces was, actually, not as long as Jim expected. He remembered the process of putting them on felt like forever, but this was incredibly swift and before he knew it, the top row was already removed in the blink of an eye. Followed by the next, and then cleaning off his teeth, taking molds, then some more x-rays and pictures. And before he knew it, it was all done and he was being congratulated by the orthodontist. It wasn’t all over yet, he’d still need to come in for occasional check-ups for the next year, just to monitor everything, but Jim knew he would be good and take care of his teeth.

Next, his uncle and him were back in the truck, it was just before 1. "Well, Jim, we can go to lunch now," his uncle began, "or you can help me out with some errands. I won’t force you to go back to school for the day if you do that, that okay?"

Jim wasn’t going to say no to skipping school, he figured his parents wouldn’t let him do that if they had been the ones to bring him for this appointment. Maybe they might have treated him to lunch, but then brought him back for his last couple periods of the day for sure. He offered up, "I can help out."

"That’s what I thought," his uncle nodded his head. "Don’t worry, we’ll still pick something up to eat though, if you promise to be good," he laughed at himself.

They ended up driving to the army base, no need for any security proportions of Jim being there since he was with his uncle. They were briefly in his office, collecting a few things, then went down some halls so his uncle could check on some other stuff. All seemed to be fine, and like they’d done whatever they needed to, so Jim just passively sat there in a chair and waited until he was called upon for anything else. Until his uncle tapped him on the shoulder and motioned for him to follow him, "Need your help on one more thing, then we can head out."

Uncle John had Jim walk down a hall, then another, then outside into a courtyard, into another building, until they came face to face with a pair of some glass doors and the striped pole bounding up and down right next to them. Jim stopped short in his stance, not looking to move an inch. He’d been set up, it was a trap, there were some "errands" his uncle had to take care of, but this was the biggest errand of them all. No wonder he must have jumped at the opportunity of taking Jim out of school today, and promising him he didn’t have to go back for classes.

"Well, come on then, son," Uncle John stared at him seriously, then motioned his hand to the doors. "They ain’t gonna bite, I brought your cousin here all the time growing up." And so, Jim stuck one shaky hand out for the door and opened it, with his uncle following close behind so he didn’t run-off.

"Gentlemen," Uncle John greeted the shop as he entered, all of the three barbers were sitting around, no one coming in at this time for a cut. "Hope you don’t mind me interrupting your lunch," he place a hand on either shoulder of Jim’s, and continued on, "My nephew Jim here just had his braces taken off, and he’s started to wear contact lenses regularly. So its only fitting we take him to the next level, wouldn’t you say?"

The barbers all nodded in agreement, much to Jim’s dismay and horror. He felt like he was going to melt right on the spot. Maybe that football to the face a week and a half ago was really just a bad and long dream, and he’d wake up any minute now. Well, that wouldn’t be so, as his uncle slapped him on the back and jolted him forward as the barber in the first chair, a man in similar appearance to his uncle but easily a decade younger, whipped out the cape in front of him, and welcomed Jim into his chair.

Jim sat back as all eyes in the shop were focused on him. He needed to remain calm, there was nothing he could do about it. He just needed to get through this, and whatever it was going to be, it was going to be. The barber then interrupted Jim’s mental pep talk and said, "So John, what are we thinking today?"

His uncle sized up the situation, and held for dramatic pause too Jim was sure. "You see, Jim is a bit of a project, he needs some work, and I’m willing to put in the effort to help him. He desperately wants to look better, and be better, don’t you Jim?"

"Yes sir," he responded back through the mirror.

"Good man," the barber nodded. "What do you think then? Radical change?"

"Oh definitely," Uncle John said. "Let’s call Jim my new recruit. That give you any ideas?"

"It most certainly does, John," the barber said, going to pick up one of the sets of clippers, and whirring them to life. Then, without any hesitation, without asking any further questions, the barber plunged right into Jim’s right side of his head.

The cold steel up against Jim’s skin sent an absolute shock through him, and as the clippers mowed through the side, the young boy could sense he was being severely scalped. To the point it felt like he was in pain, but he was only being dramatic, he knew that much. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d had clippers taken to his head, and he never wore short hair ever in his life. Well, there’s a first time for everything as they say. The barber continued the clippers through this same path, then creating another one, letting the mane fall to the ground. Jim looked on as small wisps of blonde hair fell like dandelions in the spring after a child has blown into them. Contrasted with when the barber plunged through his hair and large clumps came tumbling down, in blondes and golds and browns, as if it were the autumnal leaves and their final act of the season before getting discarded later on. Well, that’s certainly what was happening to Jim’s hair: discarded.

The barber then continued through the back, passing through the occipital bone, which sent a thrill like no other through Jim’s entire body. The barber commented "Son, you sure had a lot of hair on your head. When was the last time you had a decent haircut?"

"I’m not sure, sir, I only went for trims in the last couple years."

"That damn lockdown hair grown out," one of the other barbers laughed.
"Well you sure are lucky your uncle is taking care of you," the barber working on Jim commented.

"Yes sir," Jim responded, and fell back into a mesmerized silence as if he’d been hypnotized. The strokes and passes the barber was making with the clippers through the back of Jim’s head was starting to feel surprisingly relaxing, calming, even liberating. Words he never would have used in the past to describe a haircut. Ever! The barber continued on to the left side of Jim’s head and repeated what he’d done on the right. There was no turning back at this point. His sides were looking pretty bare, and there was still the birds nest on top to deal with.

The barber came back around with a clipper and comb and began to cut were the shorn section met some of the hair around the sides’ top. Only briefly though, before he picked up another pair of clippers, which sounded a lot louder, more high pitched than the previous ones. He began to go over the sections he’d already begun to cut, Jim did not know why, until he spotted hair still coming off the side of his head like sawdust on a work bench. Jim caught a quick glance as the barber moved from the left side to the back, and spotted that these must be balding clippers, as it looked like there was hardly anything left on his left side! Holy cow! No kidding this was a haircut meant for army recruits. The barber continued the same in the back and on the right side, again the pass through that occipital bone was glorious. Glorious?! Oh boy, what was happening here…

All the sides and back work were done for the moment. The shop was in silence as the barber was cleaning up and getting his next set of tools. He asked Uncle John "Number 1 or 2 on top?"

"Hmm," Uncle John wondered out loud. "He’s been behaving himself, so let him have a 2, this time…" his uncle teased. This time, well, if Jim hadn’t already figured that out by now, then he was an idiot. While cousin Jack was away, Uncle John would play with his one nephew who needed to be treated like a pet project. You would never see him consider this for any of the other nephews. Only Jim needed the help, even if initially he didn’t want it.

The barber came back around behind Jim, bringing the clippers forward, the wire nearly knocking Jim in the face, as he roared them to life, and placed it in the dead center of Jim’s forehead, and pulled it all the way back to him, leaving a distinct pathway, like he was mowing the lawn after a long winter. Which, in a way, was sort of the best comparison for Jim’s haircut. It was spring cleaning of a sort, a change, something new and something fresh. As the barber continued to pass the clippers through Jim’s head, he felt back into that enchanted hypnosis, like these clippers were massaging the top of his head. The loud purrs as it went one section over the next, leaving a shorn quarter of an inch path in its wake. The curls bounding down onto the cape and floor, collecting just as much as they did when the sides were shorn only a little while before. The roots of Jim’s hair were looking a lot more brown, not super dark, but not the golden hair he was known for. At least that was good, he woudn’t look like he was a total baldy.

Then the barber was complete with the top, and began to repeat what he had done earlier between the sides and the top, now blending them better together, what little was left. Jim was staring back at a complete stranger now, he looked nothing like his former self at all, and he was undecided if that was a good thing or not. Finally, the barber was doing some more spot checking and making sure everything was high and tight before releasing the cape and tissue from Jim and saying, "Alright soldier, your all ready."

Jim stepped one foot off the chair, then the other, took the additional steps up towards the mirror in front of him, staring back at the new version of himself. One hand brushing up to the side where he was virtually left with nothing, creeping up to the top where he had a little something. It felt funny, but it felt good up top. He’d get used to it he figured, he sheepishly grinned back in the mirror as the rest of the shop looked on, before his uncle shouted out, "Well come on, Jim, don’t just grin, smile! With those pearly whites!"

He embarrassingly smiled at all of them, and they all nodded their heads in agreement like before, but his uncle said, "Now you have a look, son, smile!"

Jim turned around a looked in the mirror, then he flashed a grin. Woah…he was totally new, from the boy who walked in here not so long before, to the guy that was staring back at him. They were totally different. His short neat haircut, his braces were gone, no more glasses and hell the acne seemed to have all cleared up while being here. He was a whole new guy, who would have thought underneath all of that from before, which he neglected and put no effort into, he could become…this!

His uncle, of course, paid for the haircut, with a "My absolute pleasure," before uncle and nephew left the shop together, and as promised, they went to lunch.

"No fast food though, you hear? Not after all that work on your teeth, and now that your face is looking better. You gotta cut out the soda and late night ice cream, save dessert for just Sundays when the whole family is together. Or if you are out with buddies, but still, watch yourself young man. And I’m gonna give you a few things from my house to take home with you to use, since your cousin isn’t home and he’s outgrown some of the stuff. And I’ll be expecting you to keep this haircut in check every 2-3 weeks, I will personally bring you myself if need be. Understood?"

"Yes sir," Jim nodded his head, and said louder than he usually did. "Did my parents put you up to this?"

"Absolutely not," he laughed to himself. "Might get an unkind word or two from both of them, but I’ll take it. You needed this. In time, they’ll see how it benefits you."

Uncle John took them to a local bar where they had real burgers and sides of salads (no fries sadly) and just water. Then it was on to his house where he gave Jim a bunch of his cousin’s old clothes. It was mostly plain t shirts with nothing on them, basketball shorts, and some rugby shirts. Plus, he loaded his truck with a few fitness gear and equipment. Uncle John had already written up a regiment and plan of things for Jim to try. Slow and steady to start, but he would check in with his progress consistently. All of this was good, even his parents reaction to the haircut and total change, as they saw their son was in a whole different light. His siblings teased him as he facetimed them each that night. Only expecting to see their younger brother’s perfect teeth, they weren’t expecting to see the perfect haircut as well. They all teased him how he’d been manipulated by Uncle John, but he seemed okay with it.

That was, until the next morning, Friday. He still had school, and everyone would see him. Panic began to set in, so much so that he was going to miss his bus. Luckily, his mom hadn’t left yet for work, so she kindly offered to drive him when he was ready. He showered real quick, and then looked for something to wear. The bags in the corner of his room caught his eye, some of cousin Jack’s old stuff. Instead of wearing the lame cartoon covered t shirt and baggy jeans, he swapped it for a one of those rugby shirts and a pair of cargo shorts, it was still warm out for fall after all. When he came down the stairs, his mother was surprised by the look, but she kept her thoughts to herself.

After getting dropped at school, Jim quietly went to his locker and dropped off and got his things before going to homeroom. In the past, no one would pay him any mind as he went about this on the regular basis, maybe the occasional person he knew from a class would say a quick "Sup" to him, but not always. Today, a few new faces had their attentions peaked as Jim walked by, but he casually breezed by everyone, just trying to get to homeroom as the warning bell was going off now for students to get there. He entered the room and went to his seat, ironically in the middle of the room, and as he sat there like usual, a noise of gasps went up in the room.

"Braces removal or hair removal?" one popular kid teased, which made others laugh. But then he quickly recovered and said, "It actually looks real good on you Jim, real good. Now show us them teeth," the popular kid got up in is face. Jim blushed a bit, but then felt a surge of confidence and showed off his bright whites. "Nice man! Look at you now! HEY! Everyone, look at Jim, he got hot over night," the kid continued to tease.

"Thanks man," Jim looked down at his stuff, then the final bell for homeroom rang for everyone to be in their class and seated.

The day carried on as you’d imagined, the same reaction from everyone. People even completely forgot at times about asking Jim about his braces. The haircut was all the rage now! Especially when he got to his chemistry class and waited as their teacher called out everyone’s lab partners for the day. He was paired with a different popular kid, who maybe at another point in time would have no interest in Jim, but today was different. He saddled up next to Jim, and then quickly, without asking rubbed the top of Jim’s head and said, "I wish I had a…"

"Alright, thanks man," Jim embarrassingly looked down at his stuff. "We should get started."

"Alright," the other kid sighed. "It does look real tight on you man. You thinking of keeping it?"

"I—yes, yes I am," Jim nodded his head.

"Cool, and nice shirt by the way, where’d you get it?"

"Oh, just, a hand-me-down, sorry. From my cousin."

"Nah, its all good man, looks cool."

And so people continued to come up to Jim all day long and bug him, and yes a few more head rubs were included in that. But the day took a real turn at the very end, when Jim was back at his locker, after being held up by so many people in his last class talking to him, asking him what he was doing for the weekend. He usually raced to his locker and then out to the bus, but today he was late. As he got to his locker and started to casually put in his combination, the locker mate over from him peered over.

"Hi," she said, rather confused. "I’m sorry, are you new?"

"No," Jim stifled a laugh, he knew who she was. Annabel, they were in the same grade, had been in classes together since middle school, but she never recognized him. "Its just me, Annabel."

She poked her head back, before it dawned on him, "Jim? I’m so sorry, that was so mean."

"No, don’t worry about it," he flashed his teeth at her, purposely.

"You got your braces off too?" She asked and he nodded his head and gave her a casual "Mhmm" back as he got his things from his locker. To keep the cool guy act up, he said a quick "See you Monday," just as he was about to leave, but Annabel interrupted with a "Hey, what are you doing tonight?"

"Uhh," he held for dramatic effect. "Dunno, nothing really I think. Just hanging with some friends. You?" he pointed at her.

"Oh, well, there’s a party one of my girlfriends is having. If you wanted to come, you could bring your friends too," even though Jim was sure she didn’t mean it, she probably thought they were all real nerdy.

"Alright, maybe," he kept her hanging. "DM me, I’ll let you know."

And she sure let him know. Jim and his friends would end up going to this party, and he would get the chance to hang out with Annabel and a few other kids from school. Seemed like no one cared that a bunch of nerds had been invited, because Jim was now all the rage. A bunch of other girls were chatting him up, but he kept them all at bay, just as he did with Annabel. Didn’t want to seem like a total sucker, right? Plus, well…it wasn’t like Jim had ever kissed anyone before.

"Heard someone is Mr. Popular now?" cousin Kevin said that Sunday when they were all together again.

"Not Mr. Popular," Jim shook his head in embarrassment. "It was one party."

"Yeah, sure man," Collin laughed, and they all laughed too.

"But I do need your guys’…help," Jim said to the group, and they all turned around and onto him immediately. "There’s this girl—"

"OH I KNEW IT" "YES!" "F*** YEAH BRO" and much more was a collective of shouts thrown up into the den that couldn’t be controlled until one adult came down and said "Everything alright boys?"

"Yes," they all said back to Uncle John.

"Jim? Everything alright?" he asked again.

"Yes sir," Jim nodded his head and smiled, "Thank you, Uncle John," and his uncle knowingly winked back at him as he left the boys to be boys.

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