The Cutter Blade #4 - Ray Dons the Tunic by Manny

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As Rod began removing the cape, Ray felt quite energized and bold with his new shoe.

"Which of the two do you want to start with?" Rod asked.

"Andrew there. He's here for a high and tight -- with an emphasis on TIGHT -- so any mistake I make can probably be corrected by you," Ray said.

"Come on, let's not shuffle so slowly, son!" Rod urged the reluctant cadet.

Despite the admonishing, Andrew took his time getting to the chair. As he eased into the comfortable upholstery, his golden locks absolutely shimmered in the neon.

"He's got pretty hair, this one," Ray observed.

"A lot like mine when I was his age," Rod sighed.

The barber continued, "Now, Ray, I'm going to treat you like my apprentice. Give you some tips about how to be a good barber. Start with the cape. Make it snug, but not suffocating."

"Can you believe, of the seven recruits, this one trotted up the gang plank with the shortest hair. But look how long it is!! At least his parents were sticklers about keeping his bangs out of his eyes," Ray noted. "Look at Eddie there! Half the time, you can't see his face!"

"Love this mullet flow in back," Rod said as he batted Andrew's locks playfully.

Ray surveyed the lad in the chair. "Take a good look at yourself, Andrew, because in a few minutes this long hair will be a memory."

Rod interjected, "Hey, for the full experience, why not slip into my barber tunic? It's hanging up over there."

The tunic was a bit baggy on Ray, but served its purpose. Ray loved looking and feeling like an authentic barber.

"It got a little too snug for me," Rod confessed, frowning at his expanding tummy in the mirror. And those graying curls! He needed to get himself back in shape. At least the curls would be clipped off quickly, and very soon.

He handed Ray a set of professional barber shears. "Comb the bangs straight down and scissors them off to an appropriate length."

It was hard to yank the comb through Andrew's thick hair, but Ray succeeded.

"How about here?" he asked, raising the shears to mid-forehead.

Rod nodded and Ray began snipping. The first inch-long clumps fell.

Andrew tried not to react. His bangs had never been cut so short. But, he knew this was just the beginning of a big change for him.

"That was good. Quite straight, really. I see you have a good hand for barbering," Rod said. "But, if he's here for a high and tight, you can snip the fringe a lot shorter."

Ray gleefully scissored off poor Andrew's bangs right near the very top of his forehead, snickering as the cadet squirmed in the chair.

Clumps of golden hair piled in his lap.

Rod handed Ray his big set of Oster hair clippers. Let's speed up this transformation a bit. This machine has a #3.5 blade on it. Start by mowing all the lad's hair all off to a single length," Rod instructed. "Turn this shag into a uniform, soft pelt."

"Like I'll do with you next?" Ray asked.

"Yep, unless you accidentally take off one of his ears!" Rod joked.

Ray decided to make it a scene right out of bootcamp. He snapped the machine on in plain sight of Andrew's worried eyes. The teeth chattered eagerly. Then they came straight toward his hairline. In a flash, the clippers sailed down the top of poor Andrew's head. His beautiful, soft locks tumbled in all directions revealing a wide swath of clipped pelt.

Ray felt a burst of energy and authority. He glanced at himself in the mirror. Perhaps barbering would be his future career after his stint in the navy ended.

Two more swipes with the clippers left Andrew with a decidedly MPB grandpa look.

"Leave you like this?" Ray asked the caped lad jokingly.

Andrew gulped, and Ray stroked the thick, unclipped locks in back for several moments. Then, he nudged Andrew's head forward to look down into his lap. The clippers started their ascent up through the nape. Ray loved watching the sheaves of golden hair fall to his feet.

"You're doing an excellent job," Rod said, encouragingly, from the sidelines. "A natural barber!" He glanced at his own graying blond curls in the mirror. Yes, taking them off with a #3.5 blade should be just right for him.

Finally, Ray finished administering the butch.

"Okay, time for the pro to turn this amateur clip job into a professional high 'n tight," Rod said. "But, watch me closely. Perhaps I'll let you go all the way with that moptop in the waiting area."

Ray handed Rod the clippers, and he immediately swapped out the blades.

"This is a #000 length. He's getting skinned sides and back," Rod explained. "Once I've peeled of his nice soft pelt you left him with, it'll feel like fine sand paper."

Poor Andrew withered at the description. He had known his hair would be cut short when his parents signed him up for the Semester at Sea, but had never imagined he'd end up almost bald.

"Maybe I ought to use the #000 blade on you, Rod. That would eviserate those graying curls of yours!" Ray joked.

"You know...." Rod replied, suddenly warming to the idea, "I just might want that. The deacon who usually cuts my hair won't ever take it down very short. I might just want to see how I look with a minimalist haircut. But, first, let me see how you do with guinea pig #2 over there."

Ray glanced at Eddie's heavy shag that looked like the purest silken of burnt orangish copper. It was a lush overgrowth. He couldn't wait to reduce the lad to fine sand paper on the sides and back.

The professional barber was very quick in taking Andrew's pelt down to the wood. The clippers flew around with speed and precision. Shorter and shorter and shorter Andrew's hair got with each movement of the clippers.

Then came the landing strip. "Watch carefully, Ray," the barber instructed. "Like a jet coming in for a landing in a wheat field. WHOOOOSH! And there's the start of the strip. Now, a few more swipes and that lad will be good to go!"

Finally, Andrew's haircut was over. There was no need to ask the lad how he liked it. He had the most sour, unhappy look on his face imaginable. He could not stop feeling his shorn head as he left the barber's chair.

"Next!!" Ray bellowed out, enjoying his new role as bootcamp barber.

Eddie smiled when the call was made. He ran his fingers through his long, lush copper-colored hair and pushed it away from his green eyes. It had been a never-ending battle, to keep the hair out of his face.

One of the reasons he didn't dread the impending makeover was that he had decided he’d had enough of the mop. He wanted to be able to see clearly without constantly having to push the hair out of his eyes.

In fact, he was looking forward to Ray cutting his hair very, very short, into a military high 'n tight haircut. From the first moment he'd met Ray, Andrew liked the senior cadet who was assigned to mentor him during the semester.

"Ready?" Ray asked as he fastened the cape.

"Ready!" Eddie replied.

Like with Andrew, the first thing to go was the long fringe that hung to the lad's chin. As the scissors snipped through his hair and the copper strands started to falling to the cape, Eddie felt a pang of regret. Long hair had been such a part of his identity. But as he watched more and more hair pile up in his lap, he was reminded about why he looked forward to the drastic change. There was too much of it! And what was the purpose of it, anyways?

"Now, I'll buzz him down with the longer guard, right?" Ray asked Rod.

Eddie closed his eyes and relaxed. The bootcamp experience was fun -- even exciting. He felt an odd stirring in his groin! The way Ray held his head authoritatively with one hand and clipped with the other turned him on. Ray was firmly in control....and Eddie enjoyed being in submission to the clippers.

"This feels great," he murmured.

"If you'd open your eyes for a second you'd see how much better you look with short hair, Buddy," the amateur barber said.

"Now, it's time for the #000 blade," Rod instructed.

"The one I'm going to use on you?" Ray asked, as he gave Rod a playful poke in his beer belly.

Rod looked in the mirror and shook his sandy curls about a bit.

"You know, I think I'm going to have you give me an induction cut. You couldn't go wrong with the induction, and I think it might be fun to sporty a full-on baldy for a time," Rod said.

"You got it! I'll be happy to oblige you. After I finish up on Eddie here, it will be barber in the chair!" Ray chirped with excitement. He couldn't wait to shear off all the blond curls off, down to Rod's scalp.

"What about an induction cut for me?" Eddie piped up.

"Whoa!" Ray exclaimed. "Are you serious?"

"Why not? The shorter my hair is cut, the more I like it," the lad responded.

Ray reached into the cauldron full of hair in Eddie's lad and pulled up a mass. In the process he knocked again something hard! Eddie died of embarrassment.

"Look at all this! It came off your head!" Ray exclaimed.

"Shave him bald, if that's what he wants," Rod urged.

And so, all the remaining pelt was clipped down to zero. Eddie looked like a marine recruit. No hair at all!

As the barber finished and held up a mirror to show off the back, Eddie took a deep breath. His heart pounded in his chest as he took in his new look -- it was so different, so unfamiliar. Yet, as he continued to stare at his reflection, something changed. He began to see not what he had lost, but what he had gained -- the new manly look and a new perspective. His eyes, no longer hidden behind a curtain of hair, shone brightly. His features were more pronounced without the distraction of his hair.

"I'm so proud of you, Eddie!" Ray said, as he tenderly stroked with shaven head. He knew the bald lad was going to be his pet cadet for the semester.

Eddie emerged from the barber chair with a spring in his step and a smile on his face. He had requested a baldy, and it was a winner.

"Okay, Reverend Rodney. Your turn in the chair!" Ray announced as he snapped the cape, feeling quite at home in the barber role.

Rod's blue eyes sparkled as Ray tussled his sandy curls that were starting to show streaks of gray. His hair, much like his personality, was a symbol of vivacity and warmth that drew people to both his church services and to his humble barbershop.

But he was excited about his decision. The way Eddie reacted so positively to his induction cut intensified his desire to have his curls all shaved off, down to the wood. He had always wondered what an induction haircut would be life -- he'd grown up after the draft into the military had been abolished. It would a drastic change, but felt good vibes as he sunk into the barber chair.

"Cape me up, Ray, and unleash the clippers!" Rod exclaimed.

On went the cape. Then, Ray seized the clippers that were still equipped with the #000 blade - almost the shortest of them all. A silence hung in the air as Ray hesitated, looking at Rod for confirmation. With a nod, Ray began the process.

The hum of the clippers filled the room. Ray decided to make it a true induction cut, driving the machine down the top of Rod's head, just like had been done to the cadets. Sandy curls fell in torrents to the floor. One by one, the curls succumbed to the clippers. Rod was methodically stripped of his trademark tresses. Each lock of hair that fell was a piece of his persona coming off. But Rod sat stoically in his chair, watching his reflection change with each passing second, imagining in the end he would love the new, minimalist look.

Ray was a fiend with the clippers, making sure nothing was left -- no blond or gray -- on Rod's head. He was totally bald!

Rod’s curls were gone, replaced by a clean-shaven look that made him look starkly different. He ran his hand over his head, feeling the strange smoothness where his curls used to be. Like a whiplash, regret suddenly washed over him, almost instantly. He missed the warmth of his curls and fretted privately about what everyone would think -- especially at his church. Hopefully, they would be too polite to say anything! Looking at his reflection, he thought he looked terrible without any hair. His heart filled with dread at the thought of facing his congregants and friends.

Ray sensed the mood swing. "Well?" he asked in the most open-ended way possible.

Rod gulped. "I guess all that's left is for you to take off the cape. There's nothing more to cut..."

Ray did so and sent the blond curls to the floor. He gave his buddy, Rod, a brief shoulder message.

Then, Ray gave him an encouraging smile. "Change is hard sometimes, Rod," he said softly. "But it doesn’t change who you are."

Rod broke out into a grin. He rubbed his stubble and smiled even more broadly.

"This look sucks on me!" Rod blurted out with a laugh. "But, I'm glad I had the induction cut experience. Every man should shave his head at least once. Shoot, I'm going to preach a sermon on this come Sunday. 'Man looks at the outward appearance, but God looks at the heart!' You're so right, Ray. A haircut cannot change who we are inside. Only God can do that...."

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