Dick, he hated being called Dick, his name was Richard. His dad's name was Richard also. Everyone called him Dick anyway. He’d turned 18 in April the year he graduated from high school. He was a pretty good student mostly A’s and B’s. He had been lazy in his applications for college and it shouldn't have been a surprise when he wasn’t accepted to any of the ones he wanted to go to. It looked like it would be the community college route, anyone could get in there with a high school diploma. He could also live at home which would cut way down on the expense. He could also get a job and make some money over the summer and continue working part time while going to school. All those were could’s, and besides the lack of effort to even see about a summer job, Dick spoiled it good by pissing his dad off the night of graduation. They got in to a argument that lasted all weekend. His mom got tired of the fight and packed her bags to go spend a couple of weeks with her mom. She told them it had better be settled when she got back, she was fed up. Dick’s father had taken those two weeks off from work himself, he and his wife were supposed to go on vacation together since Dick would be able to take care of himself. Dick tried staying out of his dad’s way all day Monday, and succeeded pretty well. By that evening, his dad seemed to have chilled out and was almost his old self.
Dick was in for a surprise early on Tuesday. Instead of being up looking for a job or something, he had ‘slept late’. His dad came in an rousted him out at 8:30. Told him to go get a bath and shave "that crap" off his face. Over the last two months Dick had been working on growing a moustache and goatee. It had started to fill in pretty good, but was a little skimpy. He started to say something back, like he wasn’t going to, but one look at his dad and he changed his mind. Dad was ‘icy’ friendly. His friends had gotten him a beard trimmer for graduation, he used that to buzz it down. He took his shower, then shaved his face. When he came out his dad told him to get dressed, khaki’s or jeans, he didn’t care, and a polo shirt. After he was dressed, he asked what was going on. His dad said they were going down town, they’d stop and get something to eat first. Dick thought that was good, he was really hungry.
They stopped at a little coffee shop and had breakfast, ham and cheese omelet, toast and bacon. After eating and out on the sidewalk, his dad said, "come with me." Two doors down was the barbershop. He opened the door and told Dick to go on in front of him. "Good morning Pete, hi Jack." His dad knew the barbers by name. " Pete, this is my son Dick, he’s come for that haircut like we talked about last week." "Alright Richard. Come on Dick, have a seat right up here and we’ll get you taken care of." Dick took a deep breath and let out a sigh, but he got in the chair. His hair had gotten kind of long, like down on his shoulders, and a good trim to shorten it up a little wouldn't be too bad. Pete got Dick all settled, the strip of paper around his neck and the cape clipped snugly over that.
Pete turned back to the counter and changed blades on the black clippers, putting in 00000 (5 ought) blades that would pretty much cut the hair off at the skin. He snapped them on, there was a loud pop and loud buzzing. Pete turned them off, made a little adjustment, added a little clipper oil, and turned them back on. Much better, just a little snap and still the buzzing, but not so loud.
Dick thought it was a little strange; Pete never asked how he wanted it cut, just started combing his hair out. Very quickly he found out that Pete didn’t need to ask how he wanted it cut, his dad had already told Pete exactly how it was to be cut.
Pete came up beside the chair and put the clippers right on top at the front of Dicks hair, snapped them on again and pushed them across the top, front to back. Like a reaper in a wheat field the hair was sheared close and piled up in front of the blades to drop off the back to the floor. Dick sat there rigid, almost not breathing. He was being skinned. He looked at his dad; his dad was just watching, not smiling, not frowning. There was nothing he could do, it was way too late and there was no way to put it back. Pete continued to buzz his hair off, first the top then the sides. Dick looked like a Marine after an induction haircut. When all the hair was off, Pete turned the clippers off and set them behind him on the counter. He brushed Dick’s head and shoulders off to remove any loose pieces of hair. Then he asked Dick, "just the sides or everything?" Dick tried to think fast. "I ... I guess everything." "Alright. Everything it is." There was the whirring behind the chair then Dick’s head was lathered completely over. Pete used his straight edge razor to scrape it close. Then lathered it all over again and with a Gillette Sensor Excel razor, shaved it the other way. Now it was really smooth. Gleaming like a new pearl. Pete wiped it all off with the towel and lowered the chair. His dad paid for the ‘haircut’ and they went out.
He didn't say anything as they got in the car. The wind was pretty much out of his sails. He asked if he had any money. Dick said, "about $10." His dad gave him two 20's. They drove on into town. His dad pulled into the parking lot of a good size strip mall. He parked right in front of the sign that said, Recruiting Office, Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force. His dad got out, "come on." Dick got out. "Take your pick son. Which one are you going to join?" "I don’t want to go in the service. I’m not going to join." "You’d like me to take you down to the homeless shelter then?" "No. I want to go home." His dad laughed. "You don’t have a home any more. You've pretty much screwed that up for a while. Let’s get going. Either you choose or I will." "I don’t care. What difference does it make?" His dad had a large envelope in his hand. "Alright, come with me. He opened the main door and was about to do an eenie meenie minie moe, when a Marine Sergeant came out and asked if he could help. (This little trip had been coming for a week, his dad had already done his homework; he'd given the recruiter the information so that all that really needed to be done was for Dick to sign the papers; he had expected the Marine recruiter to come out.) Richard said he could. "Dick here, wants to join the Marines, I brought him down. I think you’ll find all the papers you’ll need in here, his birth certificate and high school graduation certificate, he’s got his social security card and his drivers license on him. Is there anything else? Oh, Dick is eighteen." "No sir. That should be all. He’ll need a physical, but we’ve got a bus going out at 1:00 right after lunch to the regional induction center, and if he passes he can go right on to boot camp from there." His dad turned to Dick and said, "that’s great. You’ll be on your way today." He turned to the Sergeant, "I’ll leave him with you then." He shook the Sergeant’s hand and then Dick’s. In a really quiet voice he said, "good luck "Dick head"." Then he walked out and drove home.
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