Simpler Times for the Ennis Family by Manny

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I was encouraged to create the character of Mrs. Ennis by an appreciative reader of "At Mr. Lee's - Mr. Ennis' Discipline". Some of the characters are the same, but it’s a totally different story line from the 2019 story.


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Mr. Ennis smiled at the boys as they excused themselves from the dinner table to "go study" in Steve’s bedroom.

"Kenny Colton is such a nice fellow," Mr. Ennis noted. "So polite and respectful, and an excellent influence on Steve."

"Have you noticed how much time they spend studying?" Mrs. Ennis asked. "I just wish all the extra effort would be reflected in Steve’s grades."

"I understand why Kenny is over here so much. His father is a real bossy-type, and so old-fashioned. The way Kenny still has to cut his hair â€" tapered around his ears and short up the back," Mr. Ennis lamented as he ran his fingers through his own thick shag of deep auburn.

"And those little boy bangs! Cut straight across the middle of his forehead," Mrs. Ennis sighed. "He looks stuck in the 1960s. You, on the other hand, Ron, are so trendy with your mod-look! That sexy forelock falling over your eyes and those wonderful mutton-style sideburns! I’m sure all the secretaries at work gawk at the office eye candy."

Mr. Ennis basked momentarily in his wife’s praise, but then felt flush and swallowed nervously. "I just wish my boss were as fond of this long style as you, Sweetie-pie. Even yesterday he muttered that our best clients don’t want their portfolios being handled by a hippy!"

"You are no hippy. Your hair is nicely styled and so healthy looking…." Mrs. Ennis pouted.

"And long!" Mr. Ennis added. "It’s totally covered the collar in back."

"Frank Smith is just jealous. Plain and simple! That awful male pattern baldness and pathetic wrap-around fringe," Mrs. Ennis scoffed, thinking about her husband’s petty boss.

"His overgrown mustache doesn’t seem to be a problem, but my mutton chop sideburns are another story," Mr. Ennis groused, ticked off by the hypocrisy.

Mrs. Ennis continued speaking, "You paid a pretty penny for that new polyester leisure suit at Montgomery Ward. Maybe you should wear it to work â€" a handsome man showing how a modern office should look!"

"Maybe," Mr. Ennis replied skeptically.

Then, suddenly, he changed the subject. "I think I’ll go check on the boys. See if I can persuade them to take a break from the books and shoot some baskets in the driveway."

Mr. Ennis passed through the foyer and admired himself in the mirror. His wife was right. It would be a shame to cut his hair short for work. He pushed the massive forelock away from his deep green eyes and then smoothed down his mutton chop burns. Eye candy indeed!

Mr. Ennis was slightly surprised to find the bedroom door locked when he tried to enter.

"Uh, just a minute, Dad. We’re working on a science project," Steve’s voice rang out in a rather panicked tone.

When Steve finally got the door unlocked and opened, Mr. Ennis was a bit surprised to see his son looking quite disheveled. His long, floppy hair was mussed up and his shirt untucked.

"What sort of a science project?" Mr. Ennis asked, watching Kenny smoothing his own short hair into place.

"Uh, lung capacity….uh, breath control, under different circumstances," stammered Steve nervously.

"Well, do you have enough stamina for some driveway basketball?" Mr. Ennis asked.

"Sure," Kenny called out. "I’d enjoy that. Let’s play one-on-one. I challenge you, sir! And, Steve can take on the winner."

"You have the advantage of youth," Mr. Ennis laughed.

"And of short hair â€" not all over my face like yours, sir," the teen laughed. "Your hair is even longer now than last time we played."

"True. And I believe you’ve grown taller since then too, Kenny," Mr. Ennis noted. "Your father still won’t let you grow your hair long?"

"No," Kenny muttered. "I wish he were like you, tolerant and embracing the modern looks. I hate this short hair!"

Kenny rubbed his nape that was clipped into a very short taper.

"You have such sex-, uh manly, sideburns, sir! You look like a real movie star. One day, when I’m out of the house, I want to grow mine to look just like that. A huge delta from the bottom of my earlobe to the corner of my mouth," the lad said, as he admired his friend’s handsome father.

Mr. Ennis enjoyed the praise. First his wife had found him handsome and now the strapping neighbor lad.

Mr. Ennis tossed his long locks about as he began to duel with Kenny in the driveway. Kenny was definitely putting his new height advantage to use. The game was very close. Unfortunately, in his last attempt to even the score up, a mass of hair fell across Mr. Ennis’ face and he missed the shot by a mile.

"You need to visit my barber, sir!" Kenny laughed as he took the liberty to tussle the long locks.

"You sound like my supervisor, Frank Smith, ragging me about my hair," Mr. Ennis replied playfully.

"I’ll take you along to the barber shop, next time I go," laughed Kenny.

The lad reached up gently and pushed Mr. Ennis’ hair away from his eyes. It was really quite a forward thing to do, and Mr. Ennis found himself enjoying the spontaneous, affectionate gesture.

"And Steve there will get a proper short-back-and-sides, as well," Kenny barked in a joking tone, changing the dynamic abruptly.

"The hell I will!" Steve snapped.

"Son, your language!!" his father reprimanded, knowing very well that foul language was anathema in the Colton house.

As Mr. Ennis watched the two lads play, his mind wandered. He imagined Kenny driving him to the barber, leading him into the shop to have his hair cut short. Mr. Ennis’ cock hardened as he pictured himself caped up in the chair, sitting submissively while Kenny instructed the barber and pointed to the huge set of clippers. As he envisioned mounds of his cherished locks piling up at the barber’s feet, Mr. Ennis’ cock began to throb. He found himself desperately wanting to be shorn and transformed.

After the ball playing wrapped up, Mr. Ennis saddled up to Kenny and put his arm lightly around the lad’s shoulder. "You know, I think I’m going to take you up on your offer. When is your next visit to the barber?"

"What?!" Kenny stammered. He had been joking!

"Yep, if I don’t cut my hair, I’m afraid I’m going to be marginalized at the office. And I need to have a lot of his taken off," he added, running his fingers through his thick mane of auburn.

Kenny blinked in disbelief. He so admired Mr. Ennis’ long hair….

"A lot…." Mr. Ennis repeated, as his voice trailed off, again imagining piles of his cut auburn locks on the barber shop floor.

"Don’t think I’ll be tagging along," Steve spouted out intemperately, as he ran off, leaving Mr. Ennis and Kenny.

"No, son. It’ll be just Kenny and me," Mr. Ennis called out.

"But not your sideburns, please," Kenny urged.

"No, but my hair needs to be cut short, by a barber," Mr. Ennis stated flatly.

Kenny saw that Mr. Ennis was determined. And, he began to feel like he wanted to help his friendly neighbor with the request. He also felt it would be fun for the two of them to do something alone, without Steve tagging along.

Kenny observed Mr. Ennis’ face intently; he was so handsome, he almost seemed pretty.

"I go every two weeks, so next Saturday, sir. Will that work?" Kenny asked.

Kenny continued to focus on Mr. Ennis. The teen felt warm inside, being alone with the handsome Mr. Ennis in an isolated part of the yard behind the garage.

Suddenly, a strange desire to exercise some authority over Mr. Ennis enveloped Kenny. He moved closer to the neighbor whose slight build and flow of hair made him seem almost damsel-like. Only Mr. Ennis’ sideburns gave him an air of masculinity.

"Or, we could go right now," Kenny suggested, his body nearly brushing up against Mr. Ennis.

He reached up and ran his fingers tenderly through Mr. Ennis’ long hair. It was so soft and pretty.

"My barber will have a lot of fun cutting your hair short," Kenny said.

Mr. Ennis was submissive to Kenny’s caresses.

"Yes, this hair is in need of a barber -- a stern, no-nonsense barber. I want to see it cut very short, piling up on the floor," Kenny purred.

Mr. Ennis basked in the attention while the lad smoothed his stylized hair. Kenny’s fingers lingered in the soft locks.

"Short, angled bangs slicked to the side. You will look quite different when you leave the shop. The mod look you’re sporting will be swept up and discarded by the barber. I will lead you out of the shop looking severely barbered," Kenny taunted playfully.

Mr. Ennis groaned with pleasure at the thought of his transformation. It was heightened by the component of humiliation â€" being led in and out of the shop by a lad. Mr. Colton, Jr. would set him straight by having the barber strip him of his girlish locks! Yes, the emboldened neighbor â€" tall, muscular and authoritative. No longer a lad, but a man. Not Kenny, but Ken!

"That’s exactly what I need, Ken," Mr. Ennis said, excited by the thought of surrendering his long hair to a set of fast-feed electric clippers.

He fished the car keys out of his pocket and handed them to the teen. "Yes, let’s go now! You know the way to the barber shop," Mr. Ennis said awkwardly.

Kenny felt confident and in control as he held the car keys.

"When we’re in the barber shop, no sulking or squirming in the chair. And, remember to use ‘yes, sir’ and ‘no, sir’ with the barber. Above all, no getting weepy when the hair starts to fall. Is that understood, Ron?" Kenny asked rhetorically, striking the tone of his father.

"Yes, sir," Mr. Ennis replied mechanically. The lad had just called him Ron!!

"You’ll leave there looking proper and smart. Understood? Not shaggy, like some scruffy hippy," Kenny stated.

Mr. Ennis was hard as a rock. He glanced out of the corner of his eye at Kenny’s crisp taper.

Kenny grasped Mr. Ennis’ thick locks in back and pulled at them just hard enough to feel uncomfortable.

"I may have the barber thin this mane of yours all over. Especially the bangs â€" thinned, snipped short and angled!" Kenny announced. "You are sporting way too much hair."

Then he directed Mr. Ennis to get in the car. Kenny cranked up the engine and stepped on the gas.

Mr. Ennis’ stomach churned as they flew out of the driveway. Kenny was so dominant and firm, he thought to himself.

When they reached the barber shop, Mr. Ennis began to get nervous. Tapered short around the ears and up the back. Short, angled bangs. What was he getting himself into?!

"Are you sure you want to go through with this?" Kenny asked in a tender voice after sensing the nervousness. "You will look totally different if we actually walk in there. I see young Mr. Lee is at work. Oh, and there’s Peter. Both of them are aggressive with the clippers."

Mr. Ennis swallowed hard. "Yes, I need to have my hair cut. I’ve been admiring the short taper on you. Besides, if I’m to ever beat you in basketball…well, I need the bangs snipped short!" Mr. Ennis said, fondling his abundant forelock. Oh, to have whacked off short...!

"Thanks for letting me bring you here," Kenny said, studying the lovely auburn locks and how they cascaded in a thick shag over eyes, ears and collar.

Kenny’s tone softened. "Now, I understand my father a bit better. He probably just wants the best for me. A decent look, the way he defines it. I’m sure it’s not meant to punish or humiliate me. I need to adjust the way I feel about short hair. You, shedding this mod look willingly, really helps me, Mr. Ennis."

Kenny glanced at the man’s hand down by the gear stick. How he wanted to hold it to feel close and intimate. But he resisted. His developing feelings for Mr. Ennis were so inappropriate!

"Okay, sir," Kenny announced. "In we go! I think you’ll be able to explain to the barber yourself just how short you want it cut."

Mr. Ennis steeled his nervous and marched over to the barber shop. He pushed the glass door open and felt an instant blast of air conditioning.

Neither of the barbers was busy. They both locked their gaze on the shaggy Mr. Ennis. Peter noticed that he had a ‘deer in the headlights’ look about him.

"Can I be of service?" Peter asked, lightly tapping the chair he was standing next to. It was his turn for a client.

"And, Kenny?" Mr. Lee noted. "Both here for haircuts?"

"Oh, just me," Mr. Ennis blurted out nervously.

"I drove him over," Kenny explained, rather awkwardly.

"Well, I have my work cut out for me," Peter said with a laugh as he examined his shaggy client. "Pun-intended."

Mr. Ennis climbed up onto the metal foot rest and eased himself into the chair. It was covered in red vinyl and faced the mirror. Even though the oversized chair was soft and commodious, Mr. Ennis felt very uncomfortable.

Peter began to comb the thick auburn locks, imaging the treat to come. There was nothing he liked better that dispatching heavy shag to the cape, as well as to the speckled epoxy floor of the shop.

"It’s been a while since you’ve visited a barber, it seems," Peter observed.

Mr. Ennis squirmed. "Yes, and I need to make up for that today."

Peter smiled broadly. He liked where this was going.

Mr. Ennis continued. "You see Kenny there…."

He cleared his throat and felt a wave of nerves. Oh….what was he doing?! His stomach churned.

But, he braced himself and continued. He had come this far and was not going to weasel out of a dramatic makeover.

"I want my hair cut to his length….but not with bangs like that, straight across. I want a side part and combed to the side, more like a tidy business cut," Mr. Ennis explained.

"Your hair is very thick. It’s going to need some thinning," Peter noted as he cast the cape and fastened it with a large metal clip.

Mr. Ennis felt himself struggling for breathe. The cape was so tight!

"But, first the clippers," Peter announced.

He reached for a huge set of Oster’s and snapped them on. A faint whirling sound filled the barber shop and a slight burning odor added to Mr. Ennis sensation of queasiness.

With a comb, Peter held the cascade of hair that tumbled over Mr. Ennis’ left ear imprisoned and then ran the clipper straight up through the mutton chop, obliterating much of the sideburn, before carving an extremely short taper above the sideburn.

Mr. Ennis watched in shock. He had forgotten to say that the sideburn was not to be touched. And, now it had been massacred. Along with a huge mass of cut hair from the side of his head, his former ostentatious chop lay shattered on the cape.

Peter did another run with the clipper, this time taking it up fairly close through the temple, all the way to the crown.

Mr. Ennis watched on anxiously, hardly able to breath. In a sense, there was an air of relief. The haircut had begun and there was no going back. It was just a matter of watching himself morph from the mid-1970s back to the mid-1960s. He looked like two different people â€" the anal business type on one side and the carefree longhair on the other.

"Is that taper short enough?" Peter asked, eying the crisp wedge.

Mr. Ennis gulped. ‘What the hell?’ he thought to himself.

"I think it could be a tad shorter. My boss prefers no-nonsense haircuts," he explained.

"You can’t go wrong with a short taper," Peter clucked.

Another swipe of the clippers cleared everything off around the ear. It was almost a whitewall!

Mr. Ennis blanched. Oh, my. What had he unleashed?! He gazed down at the cape. It was already covered with clumps of his cut auburn.

As Peter was thoroughly clipping the side, Mr. Ennis’ heavy forelock fell over one eye. It was such a showy lock, shimmering in the glow of neon.

"Let’s deal with this right now so that you can watch your transformation unimpeded," Peter chirped as he began combing the doomed lock straight down.

Peter smiled broadly as he examined the length of the uncut forelock. It was one of his favorite parts when dealing with preening longhairs.

The heavy veil that covered both of Mr. Ennis’ eyes and dangled down to near the tip of his nose left him feeling in the dark and disoriented. Then he heard the scissors being primed.

A cold blade slipped beneath the cascade of auburn. Mr. Ennis felt it on his forehead, above the eyebrow. Then, he felt the blade being moved up and up….all the way to the mid-point.

SNIP, SNIP, SNIP!!!

The mass of hair fell and Mr. Ennis was left blinking at what he saw. Thick, ramrod straight little-boy bangs, just like Kenny’s!

He stammered in protest, "I didn’t want bangs like this…."

"Oh, that’s right," Peter admitted, realizing he’d forgotten the instruction. "Well, I can angle them. They’ll be a bit short at first, but with some vigorous thinning and a healthy dollop of pomade, they will still lay to the side."

Mr. Ennis was just about to say ‘never mind’ when Peter’s shears quickly snipped the straight bangs to an extremely sharp angle, ending at the hairline!

"Let’s get rid of this length back here, too," Peter announced, taking the shears to the nape.

SNIP, SNIP, SNIP, SNIP, SNIP!

The shaggy back was history! Clumps fell to the floor behind the chair.

"Do you want me to get a broom and sweep that up, Peter?" Mr. Lee asked. "I don’t want you tripping on all that cut hair."

The two barbers laughed.

"No thanks, I’m sure my client will want to see everything he’s leaving behind once the cape comes off," Peter replied.

The barber was right. That’s exactly what Mr. Ennis wanted â€" to see all his cut hair on the floor at the end.

He sensed the cool breeze of the air-conditioning on his neck. It felt great to be relieved of that constant coating of long hair, like a winter scarf on the neck â€" hot and fuzzy and uncomfortable.

Peter took his client’s head and forced it into a bowing position. The hum of the Oster’s rumbled through the barber shop again.

Mr. Ennis grasped the arms of the chair tightly. He felt cozy beneath the barber cape. This was the moment he’d been waiting for….the clippers at the nape. How long had it been since the clippers had gone up through his nape? Two years?

A wonderfully, pleasant…almost electrifying sensation…pulsated through his body as the vibrating teeth began to fashion a short taper at the nape.

"Oh, I love how that feels," Mr. Ennis murmured, beginning to feel like his decision to get barbered was totally right.

Peter worked diligently at tapering the back. Higher and higher, tighter and tighter.

"I think your boss is going to like your new haircut very much," Peter opined. "Does he sport a short back ‘n sides?"

"No. Poor, Frank. He’s prematurely MPB. A big shiny dome on top and wrap-around fringe. What’s left is actually nice, black hair. But there is precious little of it," Mr. Ennis said.

"Wait! Frank…balding guy…big showy mustache?" Peter asked.

"Yep, sounds just like him," Mr. Ennis said, feeling a bit awkward.

The barber might convey information that he’d rather have been kept private which made Mr. Ennis feel vulnerable.

"Someone needs to mow off that massive mustache! It’s just a compensation for his bald head," Mr. Lee chimed in from the sidelines.

Mr. Ennis imagined his boss stripped of his mustache with a naked upper lip and laughed. He might not be as bossy or condescending without his ‘security blanket.’

"No questions asked!" Mr. Ennis chortled. "Like the way you took off my mutton chop at the beginning of this haircut."

"What? You didn’t think you were going to leave here sporting that monstrosity," Peter said, feeling miffed.

"Well, I had thought about keeping a bit of modern flair with my new short haircut," Mr. Ennis whimpered. "But, now I see you were right -- it’s best to go with a completely traditional look."

Peter beamed. Of course he’d made the right decision in taking off that overgrown, scraggly patch of hair…..

Mr. Ennis’ comment energized Peter to finish off the transformation in high gear, using a heavy hand to clear away all remaining shag. Mounds more of auburn piled up on the cotton cape. The shorter his hair got, the more Mr. Ennis liked it.

"You are quite talented with the clippers, Peter," Mr. Ennis said, praising his new barber. "I feel and look so much better without all that shag."

"Totally agree," said Peter. "And now to thin out the hair and then finish things off."

Peter was a fiend with the thinning shears. It was like the flashing silver blades would never cease. The serrated teeth slashed through the growth that remained, reducing the bulk further and further. Finally, the short haircut laid very close to Mr. Ennis’ head.

Finally, Peter took a large dollop of sweet-smelling pomade and worked it through the remaining wisps. With a comb, he parted it on the side and slicked it over. Instantly, the slicked strands were hard as a board.

Then, Peter finished the haircut with some lather and a straight edge razor around the ears and all over the neck, followed by a puff of talcum powder in the duster.

Mr. Ennis giggled as the soft duster tickled his ears and nose.

Peter raised a hand mirror. "What do you think?"

"Excellent! Very nice, very clean," Mr. Ennis said. "I’m marching right into Frank Smith’s office tomorrow and demanding a raise!"

Peter unfastened the metal clipped and carefully pulled away the cotton cape. All the cut hair tumbled onto the floor!

"Oh, look at all your hair, Mr. Ennis!" Kenny exclaimed from the waiting area.

"What do you think?" Mr. Ennis asked, modeling his new shorn look.

"Do you like it?" Kenny asked.

"A lot," Mr. Ennis replied.

"I do too," Kenny remarked.

Mr. Ennis looked so much manlier. Handsome, not pretty like before.

"Let’s get an ice cream cone," Mr. Ennis suggested as they were leaving the shop. "There’s a parlor just around the corner."

Kenny enjoyed walking and conversing with Mr. Ennis. But, he felt a little too shy to suggest they align their haircut schedules and have a standing date every other Saturday.

He was so surprised when Mr. Ennis asked, "How about we start visiting the barber shop together, on a regular basis, Kenny?"

"I’d like that very much, sir," the lad beamed.

When Mr. Ennis walked into the kitchen, his wife gasped, "Honey! Your hair!!"

Mr. Ennis smiled broadly.

"Kenny took me to his barber shop. What do you think?" he asked as he slowly turned around so she could get the full picture. "Pretty short, eh?"

"Oh, my! I hardly recognize you," Mrs. Ennis murmured, still not knowing what to make of her husband’s transformation.

"Well, for better or for worse, I’ve gone back to simpler times when men looked like men," he said with an air of finality in his voice. "I know my boss will be pleased with this haircut."

Mrs. Ennis nervously pawed at her straight brown hair that cascaded in a thick flow almost down to her waist. She had been growing it out for ages.

She picked up on her husband’s comments. "Speaking of simpler times, I ran into Marge Colton in the grocery store yesterday. She hasn’t changed a bit â€" still sporting a knee-length dress and a modest bouffant. I knew what she was thinking as she discreetly gave me the once over."

Mrs. Ennis channeled Marge Colton’s self-righteous, preachy attitude, "Long hair is for little girls, not grown women. Or, pin it into a tidy bun, if you must. And, slacks….Heaven forbid!"

Both of them laughed at the caricature.

Mrs. Ennis paused, and then continued to speak, as if she were at a confessional revealing her secrets to the priest, "I’ve sort of been missing the ladies at the Beauty Shoppe. How Gwen would love to take her shears to my long hair!"

"You should have seen the gleam in the barber’s eye when he fired up the clippers!" Mr. Ennis exclaimed. "I knew I was making his day as he mowed off my shag."

"After seeing Marge, I can stop thinking about my old bouffant and how fun it would be to get a tight perm with small rods. I miss the smell of that solution," Mrs. Ennis said, lost in thought.

"I miss your brittle curls too," her husband purred, "and that freshly permed smell in bed."

The two cuddled and kissed. "Oh, this pomade smells heavenly."

Mrs. Ennis touched the nape and then the still hardened strands that were plastered across the top.

"All that shag….gone!" she exclaimed.

Then, Mrs. Ennis remarked, "Oh, think of 24 inches of my hair tumbling to the floor of the beauty shoppe, lying in huge heaps around Gwen’s feet. She’ll cluck joyfully, I’m sure, as she whacks off this length. I’m going to call right now for an appointment."

"Can you return that new leisure suit to Montgomery Ward on your way to the beauty shoppe?" Mr. Ennis asked.

"Of course, honey," Mrs. Ennis replied.

"Now, what about Steve’s hair?" Mr. Ennis asked.

Both parents smirked as they imagined their sullen son being shorn of his floppy shoulder-length shag.

"I always thought my father looked so handsome with a flattop," Mrs. Ennis quipped mischievously.

"Steven!" Mr. Ennis bellowed out. "Come down here at once. I’m taking you to get your…."

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