Mr Lambs - Part 1 - a Misunderstanding by buzztob

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Mr Lambs â€" Part 1 - a Misunderstanding
by
buzztob

Hi, I’m Billy. I am 15 years old and live with my parents in a nice large house. My father is a manager at an insurance company and my mother is an accountant at the same firm. Life at home is good except for one thing, my hair. I have fairly long, thick, sandy coloured hair that is parted in the middle of my head. The hair is just below the bottom of my ears and falls over my collar. I had tried to persuade my parents to allow me to have it cut short, as I am always hot and sweaty and it takes ages to dry after a shower. My mom always answers, we like you to have a nice styled haircut, it frames your face nicely. My father has his hair fairly long. The back is touching his collar, and the remaining hair is blended in supported by his bushy sideburns; a style he says, fits in with his management role at his company.

It was the Sunday following the start of last-term break. We were sitting around the dining table having a meal. My parents had nothing planned for the week, as they expected me to revise, ready for going back to school and starting my exams. We were just finishing our meal when mom looked over and said your hair is starting to curl up over your collar, pop out first thing on Monday and get a trim.

That night, lying in bed, I started to go through the various barbers in town, thinking which one to go to. I had walked past all of them looking in and trying to imagine me, sitting in the chair, getting my hair cut off. I ruled a couple out, as I knew they were not open on Mondays. I had spent many hours on the computer searching out short haircuts, but it was always men in the military, with their short hairstyles that caught my attention. If only. Before I drifted off to sleep, I suddenly remembered a barber’s shop that I had not been able to check out as it was the last shop located in a dead-end alley way. Going up there meant only one thing, you were going to the shop. I was tempted to try it out.

The next morning, I heard my parents getting ready to leave for work. Mom shouted up the stairs not to forget about getting my haircut and she had left some money on the coffee table.

When I finally pulled myself out of bed, I had a quick shower, spent ages drying my hair, had a hot drink, collected the money off the coffee table and left the house.

Walking into town, I was still uncertain where to go for the haircut. I slowly walked past a couple of barbers and noticed how busy they were. Before I realised it, I was approaching the barbers in the alleyway. Do I go in or try somewhere else? I found a low wall just up from the entrance, sat down and decided to check out people leaving the shop. No sooner had I sat down, than a middle-aged man came out of the entrance, with a really severe short haircut. That took me a little by surprise. I looked at my watch, 1030 hours. I would wait to see who else came out and what hairstyle they had. After 30 minutes, no-one else had come out or gone in. I finally plucked up the courage to walk down the alley towards the shop.

A sign above the entrance stated ‘Mr Lamb Gents Hairdresser’. I reached out, grabbed the handle and opened the door. It was a fairly bright, spacious shop. It had a light wooden floor, 3 large barber’s chairs with large mirrors in front of them, a few display cabinets, counters in front of the chairs, where an assortment of clippers and scissors and jars containing blue fluid full of combs were laid out. To one side there was a large leather sofa and a few chairs placed against the wall. It was on one of those chairs, sat a fairly young-looking man reading a book. I cleared my throat and said good morning, would you be able to cut my hair please? The man stood up and said that he was not expecting me so soon. I was a little surprised by the comment but let it pass.

The barber was smartly dressed with a tie and waistcoat. His hair was really short, parted and swept over. He told me to hop into the chair and he would sort me out. He placed a paper strip around my neck and secured a cape. Picking up a set of clippers, he placed a guard on them, selected a comb, pumped the chair up a little, and switched the clippers on. I was about to say something, but he said that my father had told him what to do; he wanted it short but would leave the style and shortness up to me. So, there is no need to worry, I have everything in hand. He lifted the hair on my neck and started to run the clippers up the back of my head. I was shocked and unable to speak, thinking how did my father know I was coming here, but then finally thought, I am getting a short haircut. The barber was just about to start another pass when the door opened and in walked a boy about my age with hair that was slightly longer than mine but of the same colour.

No sooner was he in the door, that he started mouthing off. He stated that his father had been in for a haircut that morning and told him to go and get his haircut, or his allowances would be stopped and, he would be grounded. He said that his father told him everything had been sorted with the barber so he just needed to turn up. The barber looked at me in the mirror and said, I take it you are not James. I said no, my name is Billy. The barber said that I fitted the description the father had given him of his son. Looking at the boy in the doorway, I must admit, we both looked similar. The barber, a bit flustered, apologised for the misunderstanding. He asked why I had not stopped him, but I reminded him that he said my father had arranged everything and it was always my dream to get this long hair cut off and receive a short military haircut. The barber asked me if I was in a hurry and when I said that I had nothing planned, he asked me to vacate the chair so that he could attend to James and then he would try to make amends with my haircut.

So, with the cape removed, I stood up from the chair and made my way to the waiting area. The barber invited James into the chair, taped and caped him, picked up a comb and started to drag it through the thick hair on his head. The barber, whom I assumed was Mr Lamb, surprised me a little when he turned to me and asked, what sort of military haircut had I been thinking of? Remembering the photos on the computer, I said there were a few haircuts that I really liked. The first was the induction haircut that the men joining the military received. The second was the high and tight; I thought it was fascinating to see the hair shaved off all around the head and a closely cropped bit of hair left on the top. But my favourite, was the flattop. The hair removed around the back and sides and the precision of the hair standing upright on the top of the head was a really great look.

Mr Lamb just smiled and asked how short the back and sides were cut on the flattop; clipper cut or shaved? I said I believe, the photos I had seen, were just clipper cut, but very short. With that he turned to the counter, picked up a set of clippers, switched them on, then changed the top part of the clippers. Nudging James’ head down, he placed the clippers at the base of his neck and ran them all the way to the top. This was repeated a few times and the hair on the back of his head was gone. Mr Lamb turned to me and asked if that was how it looked in the photo. I stood up and walked over to the chair and saw how short the hair had been cut. Mr Lamb said that it could be cut shorter depending on the length I was looking for on the top. I said that the hair on top was cut fairly short and you could see the man’s scalp on the photo. In that case Mr Lamb said, I think we should go a little bit shorter. With that, he changed the top part of the clippers again and started to work his way up the back of James’s head. Once satisfied, he switched his attention to the left side of the head. Again in a few swipes of the clippers, the hair was lying on the cape. The right side was next and the clippers made light work of the hair that had grown there. Mr Lamb looked at me and asked if I was happy with the look. I was smiling and said it looked just like the photo. Exchanging his clippers for scissors, the length of hair on the top was reduced. A quick brush down, water and a gel applied to the hair on the top of the head and with a hairdryer and brush, the hair was sculpted to attention.

Mr Lamb picked up his clippers again and a rather large comb with big teeth. He placed the comb at the front of James’ head, lifted it slightly, then ran the clippers over the top of the comb. This process was repeated numerous times and each time you could see the flattop being sculpted. Mr Lamb switched to where the side hair met the top. He lifted the hair with the comb and ran the clippers over until it blended into the top. This was repeated on the other side. Once Mr Lamb was satisfied, he applied some more gel on the hair, blow dried it again and, with a smaller comb, slowly ran it through the hair and clipped off any hair that stuck out. At the very front, he lifted the hair in the comb and removed a very small amount. He turned to me and asked if that was how the photo looked? I couldn’t keep the smile off my face when I announced it was exactly like the photo.

Selecting the very small clippers, Mr Lamb edged all around the head, dusted down James, removed the cape and said to James that he hoped his father would be satisfied with the haircut but, if he wanted it to be shorter, just to pop back to see him and he would sort him out at no extra charge. James muttered a few words under his breath, turned and left the shop.

Mr Lamb then turned to me and said, right Billy let’s get you in the chair and see if I can make up for my earlier mistake. Taped and caped once again, Mr Lamb was running the comb through my hair and asked if I wanted the same haircut. As much as I wanted to say yes, I explained that my parents liked my hair on the longish side, but I had always wanted a short military style. Mr Lamb looked at me in the mirror and said that he would give me a long flattop and if there were any problems at home, I could always say that there had been a misunderstanding at the barbers. He told me that his first run of the clippers had not cut my hair too short so he would cut the rest of the back and sides at that length. Once the process was completed, I looked in the mirror and was a little sad that it was not as short as I had wanted, but on the positive side, it was the shortest I had ever had my hair cut. Mr Lamb sprayed the top of my hair with water, and with his scissors, started to remove some of the length. He then sprayed my hair again and rubbed some gel in. Once dried, the hair started to stand up straight. With the large comb and clippers, Mr Lamb started to reduce the top slightly. He could see me watching him and said he knew it was not as short as I wanted, but hopefully my parents wouldn’t be too angry. Once he was finished blending in the sides to the top, he cleaned up around my head with the small clippers and showed me the result at the back in the hand mirror. Yes, I was disappointed that it was not as short as James’ cut, but it was the shortest I had ever had.

Mr Lamb removed the cape, gave me a tub of gel and explained that I had to train my hair in order to maintain the flattop look. He said he knew that I wanted it shorter but I needed to get my parents approval. He said in order to sweeten the deal, how about you come again next week and bring your father; both haircuts will be on the house and if I don’t see you then, I can assume that your parents were not happy that you cut your hair off. But remember, stress that it was a misunderstanding. We shook hands and I left the shop.

I made my way home and waited for my parents to return. Mom was first and she hit the roof saying she was going to take legal action against the barber. How could I have allowed him to cut all my hair off. She had barely calmed down when dad walked in after parking the car. She went off it again, screaming at dad demanding that he did something. Dad looked at me and asked what happened. I explained about the misunderstanding with Mr Lamb but said that I really liked the cut and wanted to go shorter. He said that it did make me look more grown-up. I explained about the offer Mr Lamb had made regarding the free haircut next week. Dad surprised me a little when he said that if getting a haircut like that would make him look as handsome as me, then he was all for it. He turned to mom and said get used to it, your little boy is growing up. We both have appointments next week with Mr Lamb.

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