Peter - Summer Holidays by buzztob

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Peter - Summer Holidays
by
buzztob

Arriving back at school after the half term break, as expected, was full of snide comments and people laughing behind my back. If it wasn’t for Simon, it really would have been a nightmare. He had on several occasions, turned around to some of kids laughing at me and said that they had sissy haircuts and should get a real man’s haircut. After a few days, the comments stopped and it was back to the grind with exams looming before we broke up for the summer holidays in 6 weeks’ time. Simon and I became close friends, going to each other’s houses after school to do revision. Towards the end of the second week, Simon asked if I was going back to the barbers soon as he wanted another haircut. I said that nothing had been said and I was hoping that I could get away with not having it cut until the summer holidays. That turned out to be wishful thinking. It was during Sunday lunch at my grandparents that my grandfather said to my father, that he was going to get his haircut the following Friday and did he want him to get me sorted out. Father readily agreed and said to just get the back and sides trimmed up and that would see me last until the start of the summer holidays and I could then get the No1 special off Mr Smith. Grandfather just smiled and said that it would be a real treat for him to have the special just before we departed on our summer holidays. I just sat there not knowing what they were talking about, but was pleasantly surprised that my father had said to just have the back and sides trimmed. Maybe he was relenting and allowing me to start having longer hair.

On Monday at school, I informed Simon that he had jinxed me mentioning a haircut, as I was going on Friday after school. Great he said, I was planning on getting mine cut this week so I’ll come with you. The week soon passed and on the Friday after school, grandfather was waiting at the school gates. He greeted Simon and asked if he was coming with us, to which said that he would if grandfather didn’t mind. Grandfather just smiled and said let’s get going. On the drive into town, Simon asked what I was getting this time, I told him my father had said to just get the back and sides trimmed and that would last me until the summer holidays. Simon said that he was getting the same again and his father had agreed that he could get the haircut I had the last time when the school broke up for the summer. Grandfather was listening to the conversation and asked Simon if he liked having short hair, to which Simon said he did and was pleased that he had met Mr Smith and would be going there from now on. Grandfather said that he was more than welcome to come with us on the next trip before the summer holidays. Simon readily agreed and said he would look forward to getting the special haircut for the summer.

On entering the shop, both chairs were empty, the barbers were sitting on the waiting chairs reading a newspaper. At the sound of the tinkling bell, both looked up and greeted grandfather and smiled at Simon and me. My grandfather told Mr Jones to cut my hair as I was only having the back and sides trimmed. Mr Smith didn’t look too pleased, but grandfather said that Simon had asked for him and wanted the same haircut again. We both climbed up on respected chairs, gowned up and the haircuts started. Mr Jones was totally different to Mr Smith, and it felt as though he was hardly cutting anything off. In the other chair I heard Mr Smith asking Simon if he wanted exactly the same as last time which Simon said yes and added that he would be back with us in 3 weeks to get the same haircut as me. Mr Smith looked at grandfather and asked him if we were still going for the No1 special the next time to which grandfather said he is, give the lad a nice treat ready for his holidays. Mr Smith just laughed and said that he will need extra suntan lotion to make sure my head did not burn.

My haircut was over quite quickly and I made my way to the waiting chairs next to grandfather. Mr Smith was just applying the razor to the back and sides of Simons head. Once completed, he razored in the parting. Whilst he was wiping Simon down, he turned to grandfather and said that he better make sure that his razor was extra sharp for the next visit. Again, a comment that went straight over my head. Simon was out of the chair, we walked to the cash desk, paid and left.

It was strange at school on Monday as no one made any comments about our haircuts. Maybe we were just being accepted now. The next few weeks went by quickly. Exams were out of the way and everyone was looking forward to the long summer break. The last week at school, reports were handed out and we were able to see how we had done in the exams. I was really surprised and had achieved excellent grades, no doubt down to Simon and his relentless pressure to revise. My parents were really pleased and agreed that Simon had had a big influence on me. They said to ask Simon if he wanted to come with us on our holiday, as he could easily fit into the car and the villa dad had rented had plenty of space and it would be nice for me to have someone to fool around with in the pool. The next day at school, a Wednesday, I asked Simon if he wanted to come. He said he would ask his parents and asked for our phone number so his parents could phone mine. That night, dad came in and said that Simon’s parents had just phoned and agreed for him to join us. He also stated that he would be accompanying grandfather and me to see Mr Smith on the Friday and all had been agreed with his parents.

Friday afternoon, the bell sounded for the last time for a few weeks, Simon and I were really buzzing ready for the holiday starting the next day. Grandfather was waiting at the gates and said to Simon it was great to hear he was going on holiday with us and that his parents had agreed on the haircut. Simon and I just looked at each other and shrugged our shoulders. On entering the barbers, we noticed that it was just Mr Smith, apparently Mr Jones was ill. There were a number of people waiting so I knew it was going to be a while before it was our turn. Mr Smith asked grandfather if he could lock the door, turn the sign over and pull the blind down as by the time he had sorted the others out and did Simon and my hair, it would be time to finish. Mr Smith was in fine form, it seemed as though no matter what the customer asked for, it always ended up the same short back and sides, just the length varied. I noticed that there were a couple of lads from my school waiting for a haircut. One I was really surprised to see here, as he was one of the main culprits in the laughing and snide remarks aimed in my direction over the past few months. Sitting in between them was a man about dads age, whom I took to be their father. The queue was slowly going down; it was then the turn of the lad from my school. He made his way to the chair, was caped up and Mr Smith turned to his father and asked how he should cut his hair. The father replied, nice and short, he stated that he had been told several times to get a haircut but just seemed to ignore the request so his father said he was making sure that he would remember in future. Mr Smith smiled, said that it would be a pleasure and did the father know what type of haircut he wanted. He told Mr Smith he would leave it up to him. I thought that was a mistake but couldn’t wait to see what Mr Smith had planned. It didn’t take long for a guard to be fitted to the clippers and turned on. Holding a comb, his fringe was lifted and the clippers ploughed through the top of his head. The look on the lad’s face was priceless. Mr Smith proceeded to remove the all of the hair on the top of his head. He brushed him down, took the guard off the clippers and proceeded to go around the sides and back all the way to the crown. A quick blending in with the scissors, smaller clippers around the back and sides to clean it up and Mr Smith turned to the father and asked if that was OK or did, he want if shorter. The father said it was fine this time but maybe something shorter next time before he went back to school. The lad’s face was red with anger and quickly made his way to the waiting chairs without looking in my direction. I had a huge smile on my face and couldn’t wait to see him back at school. The other lad got in the chair and had the same Mr Smith haircut. The three of them went to the cash desk, paid for the haircuts and left. I suddenly realised it was just grandfather, Simon and me left in the shop. Mr Smith said he was really tired and had been going at it all day. Grandfather offered to make him a cup of tea, which he gratefully accepted. Just as grandfather was going into the back, he looked over his shoulder and said No1 special for them. I walked over to the chair, was caped, hair combed out and Mr Smith picked up his small clippers and proceeded to strip the hair off the back of my head. I just thought it was going to be the same again, but, the small clippers crept over the top of my head and went all the way to the front. He repeated the process a few times and stripped the hair off the sides. He gave me a good brush down, then took a towel, ran it under the hot water, wrung it out and wrapped it around my head. I looked stupid sitting there with this towel piled up on my head. Mr Smith then turned to Simon and told him to get in the other chair and he would do the first part of his cut. Just then grandfather came out of the back with a cup of tea in his hand. He looked at me and smiled. Mr Smith asked grandfather if it was the same for Simon, he said his parents had agreed and he was going on holiday with us. I heard the small clippers being switched on and the cutting started. Shortly after, the towel was wrapped around Simon’s head and Mr Smith returned to me. He took a quick sip of his tea, removed the towel, placed shaving cream all over my head, picked up his razor, changed the blade, then proceeded to shave my entire head. I had noticed that Simon had swung his chair around and was watching the proceedings with a big smile on his face. Mr Smith turned to grandfather and asked if he wanted a second shave against the grain. Grandfather agreed and said it would be a nice treat for us. Foam was placed all over my head again and I was shaved in the opposite direction. Then the towel was put under the cold-water tap, wrung out and placed over my head. Mr Smith then turned his attention to Simon who received the same treatment as me. Mr Smith returned to me, wiped my head down with a dry towel, put some stuff in his hands and proceeded to massage the liquid into my head. It stung initially, but the smell was wonderful and a gleaming shaved head was revealed. Simon was next and you couldn’t take the smile off his face. We both climbed out of the chairs, made our way to the cash desk and grandfather paid for both haircuts telling Simon that it had all been sorted with his parents. As we left the shop, Mr Smith said "see you just before school starts". Once outside, Simon was rubbing his head and said that I was really lucky to have such a great grandfather. Not the words I would have used.

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