Out of the Blue (different) by Dave

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Nothing planned for today, as I was sitting out on the patio having my
breakfast. I love sitting outside and listening to the birds sing. I
always take my time eating breakfast since I am now just retired. I looked
forward to retirement and so far I have been having a blast. As I was
relaxing, I heard the doorbell ring. I went to answer the door thinking,
‘Now who could that be?’

Upon opening the door, I was faced with a complete stranger. He was dressed
in a plaid shirt and tan pants. The one thing I noticed right away was an
almost shaved head. I knew he had kept his hair short since he had the
beginnings of a tan, a pretty good one at that since it was early spring.

The man introduced himself as Glenn. I invited him in and offered to fix
him some breakfast. He refused, but we went to the patio and I finished my
breakfast as we talked. I know it strange that I invited a stranger into my
house, but the name Glenn got my attention. All of the time we talked, I
kept thinking of anyone I knew as Glenn. For the life of me, I couldn’t
think of anyone.

Finally I swallowed my pride and said, “Glenn! I must tell you I don’t
remember anyone with the name of Glenn. Are you sure you have the right
house?” Glenn smiled and said, “I’m sure I have the right house. I’ll give
you a hint. In high school I was called, ‘BEAN POLE.’ Suddenly I knew who
I was speaking with. Boy! Had he changed. When he was in high school, he
was very tall and very skinny. I hadn’t thought of him in years. As I
said, I just retired so you can imagine how many years it has been.

I went to work right out of high school and Glenn had gone to college. For
some reason, we drifted apart and I hadn’t thought of him for these many
years. When Glenn said, “Bean Pole” I almost fell off of my chair. We got
up and I hugged him. He was my best friend in high school and did almost
everything together. Yes! We managed to get ourselves into trouble from
time to time, but it wasn’t anything big, taking a tomato from our neighbor’
s garden, getting the first apples from their trees, etc. What a time we
had.

Everything came rushing back to me. Of course we had to get caught up on
what each of us had been doing over these many years. It turns out that
Glenn joined the Marines after earning his BS Degree and then made a career
out of the Marines. During this time, he managed to go to night school and
earn a Masters. I know what that was like since I too went to college at
night and worked during the day, eventually earning my Masters!

WOW! Here out of the blue, my partner in ‘crime’ shows up. I still couldn’
t believe it. Glenn wanted to know what I had planned for the day. I told
him nothing in particular. I told him I had just retired so I hadn’t gotten
organized to the point of knowing what I was going to do on a certain day.
He laughed and told me he had just retired and had bought a small farm
outside of town. Then it came to me, while he and I were eating the
tomatoes we had taken from our neighbor’s garden, we both had promised that
some day we would own a farm and grow our own tomatoes.

When things settled down, I asked Glenn how he found me, after all I had
moved away from our small town where I found work and finally bought my
small farm. Glenn told me that he contacted my sister and she gave him my
address. My sister still lives in our small town where Glenn and I grew up.

I asked Glenn where he had settled down and he told me. Again I almost fell
off of my chair. He had bought the small farm next to me. You couldn’t see
the house and barn, but the land was adjacent to mine. I told Glenn that I
was about to get my big garden plowed and that I grew lots of tomatoes and
he could come by and help himself whenever he wanted. He laughed and said,
“But they won’t taste as good.” I knew what he meant.

Glenn had a lot of things to get going since he just moved in and was having
new furniture delivered that day. I got him hooked up with the person who
plows my garden and he was ready to go. It worked out fine since Josh, my
friend, could do both of our gardens on the same day.

Glenn then asked me about a barber. He told me he hadn’t visited one in two
weeks so he was in need of the services of a barber. I hadn’t had a haircut
in months since I had long hair and had it slicked back. The hair was over
my ears and way below my collar. Glenn then said, “How about going with me
and we can talk and beside, you need to do something with that Mop! I told
him, “You’re on!”

I knew of a good barber. The only reason I didn’t go to him too often is
that he likes to go short. Stan has hair about twice as long as Glenn.
Many times Stan has asked me to let him take me down short. I always say,
“Maybe next time.” I have had this style for many, many years. I must
confess I am tired of it, but then I couldn’t bring myself to try something
new.

We arrived at Stan’s. Stan wasn’t busy, so when we went in, I introduced
Stan to Glenn. It didn’t take Glenn any time to get into the chair and
said, “Make it shine.” Now I am sure that was ‘music’ to Stan’s ears.
Before 3 minutes were up, Stan had taken Glenn from having hair to just
stubs. In no time Stan had washed Glenn’s hair and had placed a layer of
hot lather on his head. I sat there in AW! I watched closely as Stan
shaved Glenn’s head twice. Even without any additional attention, Glenn had
quite a shine going. In no time, Stan took Glenn from a moderate shine to a
BRILLIANT SHINE!

As I watched, I said to myself, “WOW! That is one good looking haircut. I
wished I had the guts to go for that.” When Glenn got up, he rubbed his
head and said, “Stan My Man! This is one excellent cut. You are a master!
I thank you!” Stan took payment and said, “Please come in any time and I
will shine it up for you. It will be my pleasure!” “Thank you sir, I will
do just that.”

I was sitting there listening to everything and was still deep in thought
about my hair and how awesome Glenn looked. He and I were about the same
size now and about the same build. I thought, ‘I wonder if I could get away
with a haircut like that?’ Just then I was brought back to reality when
Stan shook my shoulder and said, “Earth to Dave! Earth to Dave! Are you
receiving?” I looked up and smiled and said, “What! I’m sorry, I was deep
in thought.”

Stan offered me the chair and I got up and walked slowly and found myself in
deep thought again about Glenn’s haircut. I didn’t notice that I had walked
right by the chair. Glenn said, “Dave! DAVE!” I was jolted back to
reality again and noticed that I was almost to the big mirror behind the
chair. I could feel my neck and then my face getting red.

Stan said, “Dave! Have a seat! I’ll take care of your problem here in
short order.” I sat down and Stan put the cape on me and then tilted the
chair back and began washing my hair. I wasn’t concerned since Stan always
washed out the ‘glue,’ as he called it that kept my hair in place, before he
cut my hair. After shampooing, I was upright again and Stan was drying my
hair with a towel.

Glenn was watching all of this and said, “Dave! Man! You have to get rid
of that mess. How can you stand it? Stan! Take care of it.” Stan smiled
as he combed my hair back and said, “Oh! I’m going to take care of it. I
told Dave I would take care of his problem. When I am finished, Dave will
not have to go off into that special world of his.”

Just as Stan was talking, I heard the clippers come alive and before I knew
it, Stan had pushed them back towards the crown of my head. My heart began
to race. I could feel the chills going down my back. Then I said, “Stan!
What on earth are you doing?” Stan walked forward to face me and said, “I’m
taking care of your problem you have been having here this morning and
besides, if you remember, the last time you were in, you said it would be my
choice this time. Remember?” I sat there stunned - I had forgotten about
that.

Stan then said, “Dave! Relax! I am taking you into a new dimension where
you have never gone before.” I kept looking at Glenn’s shiny head and didn’
t pay that much attention to Stan. As I sat there, I could see more and
more hair piling up on the cape. I loved the feel of the clippers racing
across the top of my head. I knew that I was going to have a short haircut
for the first time in my life. I can’t tell you how much I was enjoying
this but at the same time was apprehensive as to what cut I would end up
with and how I would look.

All too soon the clippers were silenced. Like Glenn, my head was again
washed and then I had a feeling I would be facing the mirror as a baldy, at
least that was my hope. Stan didn’t disappoint me. The first stroke with
the razor, I sensed super chills going down my spine. I thought that the
clippers were great stimulators, but the razor’s put a new slant on chills.

I couldn’t wait to see the end result of Stan’s efforts. I still had the
shine phase of the cut to come. As I sat there, Glenn was grinning and gave
me two enthusiastic THUMBS UP! I knew if Glenn liked it, I sure would.
FINALLY! The cape was removed and the neck cleaned up and I was slowly
turned towards the mirror.

I found myself with a broad smile on my face when I saw my BALD HEAD for the
first time. It was an ‘Instant Love Affair.’ I couldn’t get over how
fantastic it looked and I had to reach up and feel it. When I did, I had
never had an experience like that in my life. I looked up at Stan and said,
“Thank you! This is super! I love it! There will be no more long hair on
me.”

Stan smiled and said, “I’ve been trying to tell you for years and you wouldn
’t listen to me. I could tell by the way you looked at Glenn’s shine and
you in a different world, what the problem was and I took care of the
problem, didn’t I?” I looked up again and said, “You sure did. This is
great.” I got up and paid Stan and gave him a big tip. Then I said, “Stan!
As long as you are my barber, whatever I say, don’t let me ever leave here
without a shine just like this.” Stan said, “Oh! You can be sure of it.
Mark my word. Just wait until you get some color up there. You are going
to look AWESOME and you will love the style even more.”

Glenn stood up and came to me and shook my hand and said, “Man! You are one
cool dude. I don’t think you realize how AWESOME you look. It is only
going to get better from this point on.” Glenn and I left and did some
shopping. I needed to get fertilizer for my garden and other outdoor
things. Everywhere I went, the men who know me, couldn’t believe I had
finally given up that long hair. Everyone told me how great I looked, even
those who had relatively long hair. I even had one of my friends tell me
that he was going right away and have Stan give him the same treatment….and
this is a guy who said he would NEVER let Stan near him with clippers.

Glenn and I have had a great time together since he moved onto the farm next
to me. It was like we were back in high school again. Of course we weren’t
into the stealing of tomatoes, etc. Ha!! Ha!! I am so glad that Glenn
showed up. It hadn’t been but a month since I lost my sweetie. Our kids
keep in touch and we are planning a big 4th. I haven’t told them of the
change in hairstyle. I want it to be a surprise. They will be coming home
and they will get to meet Glenn. I have told them a lot about him when they
were growing up. In fact my one daughter, Sally, has asked me several times
to try and find Glenn. I think she will be surprised….no I haven’t told
them about Glenn either. Glenn will be at the party along with his wife,
Sarah. She is such a sweet person. She reminds me of my sweetie in many
ways.

Oh! Yes! You can be sure that Glenn and I will be visiting Stan the 3rd of
July to make sure we have the best looking haircuts in the county. By the
way, the tan sure has increased my love for the Head Shave. Each time I
shave my head or have Stan shave it, I still get chills down my spine. No
hairstyle could be better. If you don’t believe me, ask Glenn. Better yet,
try one yourself. I know you will say, “I should have done this a long time
ago.”

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