The Bully by Mike/Originally told by Greg

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Jason was well known, but not for his good qualities. He was a bully by nature and got off by picking on kids he knew were afraid of him. A favorite victim was Tim, a gentle kid who wouldn't harm a fly. Jason had long brown hair parted in the middle, long enough to fall over his eyes. He loved his long hair and thought he looked really cool, like a rock star. Most kids had long hair at the time, in the 1970's. Tim had somewhat short hair, not covering his ears. This was an easy target for Jason, who loved to laugh at Tim and call him a nerd. Tim was smaller than Jason and slight of build, and avoided Jason as much as possible.

One day Jason was picking on Tim, calling him a nerd, pushing him around, when he noticed a guy looking at him through a window, from Mike's Barbershop. "I never noticed that shop before" thought Jason, and although he went to salons to get his long hair styled, he felt drawn to the shop for some strange reason and forgot about Tim. "I'll just take a peek inside and see what it looks like" he thought. Jason crossed the street and looked in the window. Mike came to the door and said "Hello, come inside, you look like you need a haircut." Mike was about mid 50's, tall, and had a salt and pepper flattop. Jason thought no way, I don't need a haircut, and I'd never let a barber cut my hair, but found himself entering the shop. He had never even been in a barbershop before and was confronted with strange sights and scents. It seemed very old fashioned to him. Pictures on the wall of different haircuts were all short styles, like from the 1950's or early 60's, no modern cuts. A black and white TV was showing "Father Knows Best". "Have a seat son" said Mike, Jason felt he couldn't resist Mike's invitation.

A strange feeling came over Jason. His body felt heavy and stiff, and there was kind of a warm, glowing sensation in the pit of his stomach. His tongue felt thick and he couldn't speak. He felt like the chair was holding him and he couldn't get up. Jason was beginning to realize that this wasn't an ordinary barbershop, and Mike wasn't an ordinary barber. Mike discovered he had an unusual power to control and influence people. After some experimentation Mike realized this ability could be very dangerous and easy to abuse, so decided to never use it. But after witnessing Jason bullying Tim he decided to teach Jason a lesson. Mike threw a pinstiped cape around him and put a piece of tissue paper around his neck. "What the hell is happening here?" thought Jason, who was powerless to resist. "Don't worry son, I'm going to give you a nice haircut, like I used to have when I was a boy" said Mike. That did not reassure Jason. Jason heard a click, then the whirring of the Oster clippers as they came to life. He felt the cold blades touch the right side of his face and move upwards. "Nooooo!!" Jason screamed to himself, but there was nothing he could do. The clippers were efficiently mowing down the hair on the side of his head, now going over and around his ear, exposing it for the first time Jason could remember. Mike continued around to the back, then to the left side. Mike then put on a new blade and went again to the back making it shorter and shorter for a nice taper. Jason was now feeling ill. "This can't be happening!!!" his head screamed, "I'm gonna look like a freakin nerd!". Mike finished with the clippers and picked up scissors and comb and went to work on the top. Inches of hair were now falling from Jason's head. Next Mike combed down Jason's bangs over his eyes. Jason heard the snip snip snip of the scissors as Mike reduced the bangs. Jason could see again, and saw he now had short, angled bangs. "Oh my god I look 10 times nerdier than Tim!"

Mike was now tidying up, putting some hot lather on Jason and shaving his neck and around his ears. After he was done he grabbed the jar of Royal Crown pomade and took out a dollop, spreading it evenly in his hands. He then applied it to Jason's hair, distributing it all over. "God no please make him stop!" thought Jason to no avail. Mike then combed Jason's short hair straight down and made a perfectly straight part on the left and combed his hair over. Jason then felt the comb in front, combing his hair back into a neat quiff. Jason felt like he was going to die, "I can't show my face like this!" And then he noticed out the window Tim was still there, looking in. Jason had to hold back tears. "There you go son, you look a nice clean cut young man" said Mike. Jason looked like he just stepped out of 1956 with his slicked perfectly combed back short haircut. Mike decided Jason needed to learn a lesson in humility, and also to end his distress receiving this haircut. "Son, I saw you bullying that other child, and that has to stop. From now on you will be a courteous, polite, sensitive young man and respect others. Do you understand? "Yes" said Jason. "Yes what?" stated Mike. Jason stammered a bit, then said "Yes sir". "That's better. Look in the mirror Jason. Look at your new haircut. You really like this haircut, don't you?" Jason felt the strange feeling again, then realized yes, yes he did like this haircut. It made him look handsome. He loved the shine and control the pomade gave his hair, the way the quiff in front looked, and thought to himself I'm keeping it like this forever.
"Yes sir, I do like this haircut. Can I come back again to have you cut it?" "Of course son, see you in 2 weeks for a trim. And you'll need this." Mike handed Jason a jar of Royal Crown pomade. "Thank you sir, I'll see you in 2 weeks!"

Jason left the shop and started walking home to start his "new" life. After a few blocks he saw Tim, Jason now felt no bullying impulse and went over to apologize to him for his past actions. Before he could say anything Tim laughed and said "nice haircut nerd!"

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