Let's bet! – part 2. by Domko

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I recommend reading the first part before reading this part.

My name is Abraham. I was 14 years old and it was fashionable for boys to have long hair. I made a bet with my good friend Philip that if he didn't go with his father to the old-fashioned Marhew barber shop, Mr. Marhew would cut his hair to his specifications. We made a bet and I went to show him clearly that Mr. Marhew would cut my hair as I told him.
My father used to go regularly to Marhew barbershop on the last Saturday of the month. When father returned from the barbershop. He told me that the barber was very happy that I came back to him after years and came together with Philip and that he promised the barber that we would come together as Philip goes with his father and younger brother.
For a month I persuaded my father to tell Mr. Marhew that I would go to a modern barber shop as in the past.
In a month, the last Saturday of the month came. I thought dad would go to the barber himself. But at breakfast he announced to me that at 9 o'clock we would go together to Marhew's barber shop. I tried to convince him again, my hair grew about 5/8 of an inch in about 5 weeks, but dad wouldn't budge and I had to go get it cut.
Upon arrival at the barbershop, Mr. Marhew welcomed us and when he saw me, he smiled and said that he was happy to become my barber again.
After less than an hour of waiting, the barber called me to his chair. When he wrapped me in a sheet, he asked: how do we cut Abraham's hair? I wanted to say just a little touch up, but the barber said no one asked me anything. Father called from the waiting chair, just like last time. In 10 minutes I already left his chair with a short haircut with white arcs above the ears and with my hand I was examining how it was shaved in the back of my head. I had the hair on the top of my head combed forward again about 2 inches long.
I went to sit on the waiting chair while the barber cut my father's hair. About the time the barber was cutting my hair, a boy of about 11 years old, who had hair about 4 inches long, came with his mother. He began to convince his mother that he did not want a haircut like mine and that they should go to another barber.
When my father and I left the Marhew barbershop, we went to do some more shopping. When we were returning home, we saw a boy from the barber shop. He was crying loudly and his hairstyle was short like mine. Much of the back of his head was white and he had short black hair combed forward on the top of his head.
I tried to persuade my father not to go with him to Marhew's barber shop, but the last Saturday of the month was fateful for me, and after breakfast I always went with my father to the barber's.
At the beginning of summer, the temperatures were high. Just like the previous last Saturdays of the month, my father and I went to the Marhew barbershop.
While we were waiting in the waiting chairs, the barber was talking to the men present about the warm summer that awaits us and the following days will be very hot.
I was already sent to the barber's chair and the barber wrapped me in a sheet. Then Mr. Marhew asked his father that when the temperatures were so high, he should cut Abraham on the top of his head with clipper #2 and clean the rest of his head. He said that he also gave Philip and his brother such a haircut yesterday. Father agreed, but I didn't know what they were talking about. Too bad I wasn't with Philip last night to know how he got his hair cut.
The barber tilted my head and I felt the cold metal of the scissors teeth on my forehead. The barber cut the hair on the top of my head and then he also cut it on the sides and back of my head. When I straightened up I saw that my entire head of hair was only about 1/4 inch. Tears started to fill my eyes. The barber has already changed the scissors, I saw that the teeth are fine and thick. He tilted my head to one side and began to use it to cut the remaining hair from the temple bone towards the top of the head. Then he did the same on the other side of the head. When he put my head in a forward position, I felt him running scissors from my neck to the whole back of my head. When the barber was brushing my neck and around my ears, I could only see very little stubble on both sides of my head in the mirror.
Through tears, I saw the barber apply white cream on the entire sides of my head and I could feel the foam on the back of my head as well. Then he carefully scraped off the foam. After he wiped the rest of the lather on a towel and applied barber's water to the shaved part of my head, I was able to see my head. I only had 1/4 inch hair on the top of my head, the rest of my head was white.
I stroked my sides and the back of my head while I waited for my father's haircut. I was clean shaven everywhere, not a single little hair to be found. Until then, I had never had such a drastic haircut. I got two more haircuts like this this summer.
I went to see Philip on the way home. When he saw me, he asked if I also wanted such a hairstyle. I replied that Mr. Marhew told dad that yesterday Philip and his brother cut the top of the head with a #2 clipper and the rest of the head to be cleaned and dad agreed.
On Monday at school they laughed at us if we joined the army.

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