Maik and Enrico: Be careful what you say by GermanCut

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(Before you start reading this story, you might read the stories "Maik and Tim (Part 1-3) and "Nina and Mike" to gain some background, but it’s not necessary for following this plot.)



It was the first time after vacation that we visited my little brother Enrico and his family. He and his wife Caroline had invited us for dinner at their home. Eight people had taken place round the table in the garden: Enrico, called Rico; Caroline, called Caro; Hannah, their daughter, 11 years old; the twins Max and Leo, who just turned 8 years old; my wife Nina; our son Tim, 16 years old; and me, Maik.

We spoke about what happened during the last weeks and finally about the new look of Tim and me: Both of us had got our heads shaved before starting on vacation. I had been keeping my bald head all the time, while Tim had let regrow his hair but once more shaved it off some days ago. (Maybe Tim will soon tell the story of his second bald decision.)

"How did it happen?" Caro asked.
Tim answered: "It happened because of Dad. He wanted a bold haircut and made me to join in."
"It began like that", I added, "but after we had let our hair cut awfully short, Tim got in the mood for even shorter hair. It ended with completely clean-shaven heads for both of us."
"Don’t forget your private Mr. Clean-lookalike-contest", Nina remarked. "Tim and Mike have bought the perfect outfit for their new shaved look: very tight white T-shirts and shorts."
"How much did you pay for the shave?" Max asked. "One-hundred Euros?"
"No, we paid much less!" I replied laughing. "Why do you think that it would be expensive to get the head shaved?"
"I thought, it must be expensive, because of the many hairs, which the barber must cut off", Max answered.
Leo asked: "How does it feel to be suddenly bald?"
"Just weird", Tim answered.
"How weird?" he asked again.
"Totally weird", Tim said.

"I’m not too astonished that I have a bald brother now", Enrico said. "Maik was already fascinated by bald heads when he was a little boy. Don’t you remember what Mum told us about Maik’s question in the office of the worker’s union? I don’t know what our mum wanted to do there and why she took Maik with her. However, little Maik pointed at a poster on the wall and asked with his squeaky voice: ‘Who’s this baldy?’ The baldy on the poster at that time was of course Lenin…"
"Who is Lenin?" Hannah asked while we were laughing, but nobody was really in the mood to give her a detailed explanation.

I paid him back with the question of whether he, Enrico, has never been fascinated by bald heads or ever thought of letting his head shave.
Enrico hesitated a bit, then said after an exaggerated sigh: "I would like to have a bald head, but it would be impossible for me. Imagine me in the bank behind the counter looking like I was just out of prison! I would get in trouble."
"Rico, you are telling nonsense!" Caro replied. "There’s your colleague Markus with his bald head, and nobody makes derogatory remarks. There are pastors, mayors, ministers, chancellors, presidents with bald heads, and nobody cares about. Your serious work at the bank is nothing else than a pretext!"

Is it possible that Caroline’s passionate plea for shaved heads is the hidden desire that her husband should change his business-hairstyle into a bald head? This I asked myself.

Hannah carried a plate with hard boiled eggs. "They are from our hens!" she said, took one of the eggs and hit it on my forehead, shouting: "Egghead!"
"By the way", Enrico said, "I need a professional roofer like you, Maik. We detected after the last rain that the roof of the henhouse is broken. We must repair it. That means, I need your help. Otherwise, we must buy water wings for the hens!"
In fact, a professional roofer isn’t necessary at all for repairing a henhouse. But Caroline and Enrico are a bit clumsy, so we arranged to meet the following Saturday.

Enrico and I finally began to repair the henhouse’s roof after we had drunk a bottle of beer together. Nina and Caro had gone to a nursery to look for fruit shrubs. Hannah and the twins stayed with us.
Rico told: "You and Tim with your bald heads! Can you imagine what you have triggered at Max and Leo? All the time they speak about being bald, getting bald, getting a shaved head! Yesterday, we saw a movie on TV about Ancient Egypt. You know after dinosaurs the boys are interested in Tutankhamun, Akhenaten, Nefertiti, pyramids and mummies. Most male actors in the movie had a shaven head. The twins didn’t stop asking questions: Why did they get their head shaved at that time? And what’s about the actors? Are they really bald? Did they only let shave their heads for this role? I don’t know if they understood the plot because they were attracted by the hairstyles of Ancient Egypt…"
I giggled.

Leo came to us speaking: "Uncle Maik? How often must you and Tim shave your heads? Every day? Like a beard? And how does it feel when you shave? Is it getting cold on your head? And does the hair regrow as much as before? Or better?"
"Ouch!" Rico yelled out because he hit his thumb with the hammer.
"For Heaven’s sake!" he shouted full of anger. "Don’t get on our nerves! You and Max, get your heads shaved and you will easily know how it is to be bald! And now buzz off!"
Leo pouted and went away.
"These kids…" Enrico sighed.

We had just finished our work and opened another bottle of beer, when we heard Hannah’s voice from the house: "Dad!!!!! Quick!!! Come here! Look at what Max and Leo have done!"
Enrico and I sprinted through the open door.
We found the twins in the kitchen. What a mess! The floor was covered with hair! Hair which wasn’t any more on the heads of the twins.
"What… How… Why…", Enrico tried to speak, his eyes wide open.
"We have taken the clippers that Mum use to cut our hair. But we have taken off the attachment comb", Max explained. "We wanted to look as cool as Tim and Uncle Maik!"
"Bravo…", Enrico sighed with deepest resignation.

I couldn’t help that I burst out laughing.
Max and Leo had shaved their heads with the most terrible result: very uneven with large bald spots and tufts of stuck out hair. They looked funny with their round heads at which big eyes and large teeth emerged, a bit like Sponge Bob but less boxy.
I immediately stopped laughing when I took a glance at Enrico’s face.

"Caro will kill me! What can we do? What can I do?"
"Surely, we can’t stick the hair back onto their heads", I said. "But we can’t let it like it is now, neither. I regret, but the only solution would be to give them a clean shave."
"Okay, if there isn’t any other solution, let’s do it…", Enrico decided.

I told the twins to take their T-shirts off and shaved off the rest of their hair with the clippers, meanwhile Enrico grabbed the hoover and cleaned the kitchen from the hairs. After that, he vacuumed the boys who were giggling.

I prepared the wet shave and began with Leo. I lathered his head and then grabbed the razor. I was a bit frightened to hurt his very soft scalp, so I was very careful.
Hannah watched the shave of her brother with interest.
"Hey, Hannah! You’ll be next, if you want", I annoyed her.
She answered by snorting: "I surely won’t be next! I’m not like my moron brothers!"
"Enough, Hannah!" Enrico shouted. "Don’t call your brothers morons! Say that you are sorry!"
Hannah was silent for a moment, chewing on her lower lip. Then she turned to her brothers: "Max and Leo, I’m very sorry that you are morons."

Finally, Max and Leo watched their freshly shaved heads in the mirror. Leo touched his bald head and commented: "Tim was right. It feels totally weird."

We hadn’t noticed that Nina and Caro had arrived. Both stood rooted with open mouths.
"My goodness! What have you done?" Caro cried.
Hannah explained: "These two m… Max and Leo took the clippers and gave themselves terrible haircuts, so Uncle Maik finally had to shave all their hair off."
"But what has made you do so?" Caro asked with a sigh of deep resignation like Enrico had done before.
"It was Dad who told us to shave our heads", Max answered.
"What???" Enrico was astonished.
I spoke: "Yes, Rico, the boys are right. It was really you. When Leo asked how somebody would feel after shaving his head, you answered: ‘Get your heads shaved and you’ll easily know how it is to be bald!’"
Enrico cut me a look.
"I couldn’t have imagined that…" he began.
"What couldn’t you have imagined?" Caro replied. "You couldn’t have imagined that the boys would take your proposition literally? Really? It’s not the first time they have done so. You must be careful what you say to them!"
"I’m so sorry", Enrico said sincerely.
"Yes, Rico, and for accepting your apology, I would like that you show solidarity with the boys."
Enrico looked a bit questioning and Caro explained: "I think you should share the shaved look of the boys and shave your head bald like them. Maik will help you with the new hairstyle, won’t you, Maik? I’m looking forward to see my husband with a shiny bald head."
"But…" Enrico began. "Come on, little brother!" I said and continued in a soothing tone: "I promise that you will like it! It’s a very profound experience. Don’t be frightened! Your head isn’t the first one that I shave. I have already a routine like a professional barber. Nina too."
Nina blushed lightly to these words, remembering surely the shave she gave me in the bathtub.
Enrico sighed once more, turned his eyes to the sky, then to me and said: "Okay, let’s go! Fetch the clippers and the razor and make me as smooth as a cueball!"

Enrico took a seat on a chair that we had carried into the garden, took off his shirt and awaited the things to come.
"Here we go!" I shouted, running the clippers from Enrico’s forehead through his business-hairstyle. A long streak of his brown hair fell on the lawn, while the clippers left an almost smooth lane on the top of his head.
"Wait a minute!" Caro said. "Let me continue!"
She grabbed the clippers with a broad grin and mowed through the hair of my brother. She seemed to have a lot of fun while Enrico looked a bit submissive and discomforted. "That’s what I’ve already wished to do since a long time", she said, "cutting your pretty hair off and make you bald. Because I’m sure, you’ll look awfully good with a bald head."
Caro was right. After a few minutes, only little stubbles remained on his head. Enrico looked like somebody who practiced some kind of extreme sports like marathon for example. He ran with his fingers over his head, his eyes and mouth wide open. "I can’t believe it", he said. "You really shaved me bald." Caro nodded with satisfaction.
"Now, it’s my turn again!" I told Caro. "I’m going to shave my brother’s head as smooth as a baby’s bottom."

I lathered his head with the shaving-brush. The soap was a bit too liquid, so it ran over his face and on his breast.
"Please, be careful!" Enrico begged, but nevertheless he looked like he enjoyed the shave very much, even with soap in his eyes.
Lane by lane I shaved him completely smooth. No single hair should remain on his head. I wanted to let him feel the benefit of a perfect bald head.
Finally, I told him to stand up and make a bow. I took a watering can and poured the water over his head while Enrico rubbed his skull to get rid of the soap.

The sun was shining onto his freshly shaved head.
Nina and Caro applauded.
"You look so hot!" Caro said.
"Hot, but still a bit ridiculous", I added. Enrico’s body which he had perfectly tanned during vacation contrasted extremely with his white scalp and the visible sharp tan-line.

We all touched his head: Nina, Caroline, the twins, Hannah and me.
Enrico couldn’t stop giggling and rubbing his bald head while speaking out half sentences: "Can’t believe it… So weird… Feels good… A bald bean!"
"Today, you have become my bald brother", I said to him. He smiled.
"Dad? Now all the boys in this family are bald. But maybe Max and I will let regrow our hair again", Leo announced.
"Good idea!" Enrico said. Then he rubbed his clean-shaven head once more with relish.
"I could accustom myself to the bald head, I think. I’m not sure at all, if I will let ever regrow my hair", he said slowly.
And after a longer break he added with a smile on his face: "What do you think of it, Maik? Bald brothers forever?"

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