Fathers instructions for a haircut by Tony

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Fathers instructions for a haircut.
It was Monday morning and the first day of Dads holiday, we had already been off school for a week, my younger brother was away at camp and my sister had gone to my Aunts, that just left me and of course my Mum.
I was the eldest and just turned sixteen. Dad called up to me to come down stairs, when I got down he said, there is some money, I have made an appointment for you at ten thirty at the barber shop. My heart sank at the mention of the word, I knew there was no getting out of it this time, both my parents had been moaning about the length of my hair recently, so I guess I was going to get it cut, like it or not. I protested to my Dad that at sixteen I should be able to decide for myself when I cut my hair, all my friends at school had long hair now and I felt that it's not fair that I get to be the only one with short hair, he just laughed and said, when you leave home, then and only then can you make that decision, but for now you will do as your told and get down to the barber shop.
My hair now was way over my collar and the sides covered my ears completely, my fringe was almost touching my lips now and being straight it tended to flop forward a lot, I had also been cultivating some long sideburns too, which were hardly noticeable under the long hair at the sides, but at least they were to just past the bottom of my ears.
I left home reluctantly to walk to the barber shop, it was about fifteen minutes there, I had been going there for years now as it was the only shop in our small town, there were two barbers working in the shop, one younger guy and one older guy that had been there years, it was his shop, very old fashioned and traditional, I was trying to look inside through the window to see how many were waiting, there was just one young lad waiting and the old barber was just finishing up with the man in the chair, I thought that's great, if I get in there now, I will get the younger guy and hopefully not such a short haircut.
As I sat down next to the young guy waiting, I relaxed a little, the old barber just brushed the gentleman off and took his money, to my horror, the young lad got up and followed the gentleman out of the shop. The old barber looked at me and said, I presume you are Christopher ? I nodded my head, my mouth was dry and I could hardly speak, yes sir I said, jump in the chair lad, I have been expecting you, your Father said you needed a good haircut, with that I sat in the old leather chair, before I could get my self comfortable he had got the cape around me tightly tucked into the neck under my long hair, I was starting to say what I wanted when he interrupted me, don't worry lad, I know what haircut your Father wants for you, with that, out came his large comb and was raking through my long hair, my word he said, it's been a long time since this was cut lad, but don't worry, we will soon have you looking like a smart young man again soon. I went cold with the thought, would I be the laughing stock of my whole class ?
The barbers firm hand pushed my head forward, my chin tight against my chest, even if I wanted to see what he was doing, I couldn't move my head, I heard the sound of the electric clippers start up, the dreaded buzz of them at the base of my neck, the cold metal blades touched my neck and before I could say not too short please he had plunged them up my neck almost to the crown , I had an awful feeling of cold air where a few seconds ago the long hair covered my neck and over my collar. He kept plunging the clippers up my neck removing all my long hair that I had been growing for months, he released his grip on my head now and moved to the side, pushing my head to one side, I could feel the blades at the bottom of my jaw running straight upwards towards my temple, I thought oh no, that's my sideburns gone, I could see great clumps of long hair falling on to the cape, he was totally relentless with the clippers, before long the other side was decimated too, my ears were totally visible now and the skin of my scalp totally bare and white, what the hell are all my friends going to say, I will be so embarrassed, sixteen years old and still being told by my Father what haircut to have. Out came the scissors next, my gorgeous long fringe chopped off to reveal my forehead, I looked on in horror as it was cut so it did not even cover my forehead, the rest of the top was chopped the same and now I looked like something out of Frankenstein.
Next the razor came out and he wet the areas at the side of my face, the razor scraped from the top of the ear right down my face removing any sign of my carefully grown sideburns, as he finished the shaving, he took a large dollop of cream from the pot on the side, smarming it into the remaining hair on top, a side parting was created and the front slicked back to my head, I looked in the mirror in horror, it was so short and like a nineteen forties style haircut, I had to walk back home with this now, how embarrassing, I ran my fingers up the back of my neck to feel a smooth stubble only, this had to be the shortest haircut I had ever had, how was I going to explain this when I go back to school next week ? Was I to admit my Father sent me for a haircut at sixteen years old, when I should be old enough to decide on my own haircut, I think I am going to be ridiculed by this for ages.
I got back home and my Father inspected the haircut, he said, that's just perfect, now you must keep it like that, I have booked you in for your next cut in three weeks. I dreaded the thought, I went up to the shower to wash out all the cream the barber had used, but when I tried to comb my hair when it had dried, it stood out all over the place and looked even worse, I went back to the bathroom and found my Fathers pot of hair cream, I took a generous amount and rubbed it into my hair, then combed it through, at least it laid flat now, so I knew I had to use this for a while now. I returned to school and found I was the only boy in the class with a short haircut apart from one boy, he had a real short buzz cut, I looked at his hair and thought, that's got to be better than my old fashioned look haircut, I put up with this awful look until I had to return to the barber shop on my Fathers instructions, as I sat waiting, I saw the younger barber just finishing up and he beckoned me to sit in his chair, he caped me up and asked if I wanted the same again, I said no, I would like a buzz cut please, he asked me what grade I wanted, I did not understand what he meant, I didn't know there were different grades, he said there were four grades from number one to number four, so I thought four was the shortest, I said can I have a grade one please, he snapped the guard on the clippers and switched them on, starting at the middle front of my hair I watched in horror as the clippers shaved my hair to a mere stubble on top, I shuddered at the thought of what my Father would say when he saw this, the barber continued until he had finished with this grade, then took the guard off and shaved up the sides and back right to the skin, he finished with a razor shaving it smooth, I looked like an army boy now, he finished up and brushed me down, I thanked him and left the shop, on my way home I looked at my reflection in the shop windows, I actually liked my new look and was quite pleased with myself.
When I returned home my Father took one look and asked what have I done, I told him I wanted something a bit more modern than the barber gave me last time and I knew he wanted me to have it short as per his instructions, so to be honest he could not say much really other than next time he went to the barber shop he would take me with him.

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