Orders from Coach by PJ Clipper

---

Justin is an 18-year-old senior in high school, the pitcher and captain of the varsity baseball team. One day his coach (who has advanced male pattern baldness at the relatively young age of 35) saw him behind school with a few of his buddies who were cut from the team after Coach caught them smoking. He wondered why Justin was there with them, since practice was about to begin in a few minutes. This time, Coach caught Justin smoking. Since Justin is the star pitcher, Coach gave him a choice. Justin either goes to the barbershop with him to get the haircut of Coach's choice, or he will be cut from the team.

Justin really loves his thick head of well taken care of shoulder length golden blond hair. All of the girls and many of the guys are envious of his beautiful long locks. Since he loves being on the team, Justin decides to go to the barbershop with the coach after practice. He got this uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach, but it was exciting at the same time.

All too soon the practice was over. Coach told Justin the address of his barber's shop... he was to be there in thirty minutes. Something came up and Coach couldn't go with him, much to his own disappointment. Justin was glad, however. Maybe I can talk the barber into giving me more of a trim, than a short haircut, he thought. All the way to the barber shop he was thinking that maybe he should just quit the team, but deep down he knew that he would follow through with the forced haircut, since he loved being on the team so much.

When he got to the barbershop the door was locked, and Justin was really glad, thinking that maybe the barber had taken the day off for some reason. Just as Justin got a few steps from the door after turning away, he heard the click of the lock being snapped open. That SNAP startled him as he spun around to get a glimpse of the barber. Rocko, the barber is a very handsome and rugged looking man. He looks more like a football player, than a barber.

"Come on in," he says. "Coach told me to be expecting you. I normally close at 5 o'clock every day, but this is a special request from a buddy that I can't turn down," he says with a twinkle in his eye. "We were college buddies."

It turns out that Rocko was indeed a football player in college, who would have made it professionally, if it wasn't for that injury he sustained in his final semester. It turns out that Rocko was the team barber in college, since he had a natural talent for using the clippers.

As Justin walks in he notices a lot of great looking photographs of dozens of different haircuts, all of which are EXTREMELY short. He gets that feeling of excitement and dread that had been coming and going since the coach first gave him the ultimatum.

"Take a seat," Rocko says as he swivels the chair to face Justin. "Coach has given me strict orders on how your hair is to be cut. Do you agree to let me cut your hair like coach wants?" Justin can't find his voice, so he just nods his head in agreement.

Rocko encircles his neck with the paper Sanek strip, pulling it very taught around Justin's neck. Next he snaps the white cape with red pin stripes and fastens it snug with the metal barber's clip at the back of his neck. All the while Justin's nervousness is getting to be almost palpable. Rocko goes into the other room leaving Justin to look at the reflection of himself with long hair for the last time, all caped up and ready to be shorn. He returns wearing a crisp white barber smock that is fastened snug at his thick neck. He has the look of a professional old fashioned barber.

Rocko doesn't speak at all as he grabs a set of clippers from their hook. There are seven different sets of clippers of various sizes all hanging in perfect alignment on the barber's station. He decided on a set of Oster 76 classic barber clippers to remove the bulk of Justin's hair. As he flips the switch, Justin audibly gulps, as this would be the first time anyone has used clippers on his hair. Rocko turns the chair away from the mirror as he gently but forcefully pushes the back of Justin's head until his chin is resting on his chest. All he can see in the mirror on the other side of the room, is Rocko's shiny bald head glistening from the overhead lights. His head is completely shaven and shiny as a cueball.

Justin almost bolts as he hears the whirring motor of the clippers getting closer to his head. Rocko senses this, as he grabs a tight hold of the hair on top of Justin's head. He is now motionless as he feels the cool bare metal of the blade on the back of his neck. The clippers shear Justin's hair as effortlessly as a hot knife sliding through soft butter. The long locks of hair slide over his shoulders and down the cape to pile in a cluster in his lap. It is both scary and exciting as he watches the shorn hair grow into a mound on the cape, spilling onto the floor, since there is so much hair! After Rocko finishes clipping the last strip of hair up the side of his head, he flips the switch sending the shop into silence.

He hangs the clippers back on the hook, and grabs a pair of long, sharp, shiny chrome barber shears. Rocko combs the long locks on the top of Justin's head straight down. He feels the cool opened blades of the shears on the skin above his eyebrows... Snip, snip, snip, snip... Justin closes his eyes as he feels the silky bangs slide down his face, adding to the mound of hair in his lap. At least he is leaving some length on the top of my head, Justin thinks to himself.

After he is finished with the almost rhythmic sounding ... snip,snip,snip ... snip,snip,snip, Rocko puts the shears and comb down, turning the chair so that Justin can see his new short haircut. It actually looks very good, and he is kind of glad he decided to go through with the coach's idea of a forced haircut. It wasn't so bad, after all. That is until Justin sees what happens next.

Rocko picks up the Andis Master clippers with the shiny chrome metal casing. What is he going to do with those? Justin thinks to himself. He is soon to find out as Rocko snaps the clippers to life with a powerful buzzing sound. He has pushed the adjustable lever all the way forward to it's shortest setting. The next thing you know, the clippers are at the front and center of Justin's hairline resting on his forehead. An almost overwhelming feeling of dread forms in the pit of Justin's stomach.

Rocko mows a path down the center of his head, exposing the pale white skin of his scalp... the hair falling to his feet on the floor. He continues shearing every hair off the top of Justin's head, all the way back to the crown... slightly dipped in the back, leaving him to look like Coach, except that Justin has a very short stubble on the top of his head.

He can't believe what is happening when he sees Rocko fill his hand with lather from the shaving cream dispenser! It feels warm and soothing on his scalp, as Rocko smooths it on Justin's stubbled skull. Next, he hears the slap, slap, slap of the razor on the leather strop, which is hanging on the side of the barber chair. Rocko expertly scrapes the remaining stubble off the top of Justin's head, wiping the shiny blade clean on a towel that is hung over his forearm. All the short stubble that was on Justin's head is now filling up the once clean white towel. When he is finished with the straight razor, Rocko applies a few drops of baby oil to Justin's scalp and gently buffs his head to an awesome shine with a soft cotton cloth.

"All finished sport," says Rocko.

"Are you going to leave me like this?" Justin asks.

"I sure am. Orders from Coach. Do you want to tell me why this haircut was forced on you by Coach in the first place?"

"I got caught smoking with a few of my buddies behind the school," Justin replies.

"Oh, OK. I know how against smoking, Coach is. He is always on my case about it too, even though we are good buddies.

"I sure am glad that I wear a baseball cap most of the time. I guess it is going to be ALL the time for a while," says Justin.

"What are you going to do when you have to shower after practice?" Rocko asks.

"I never thought of that. What am I going to do?"

---