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Buddy was a pain as a younger brother. He was always tagging along even when he really wasn't wanted. Steve told his parents that it wasn't fair, that Buddy wouldn't let him do stuff with his friends without tagging behind. "But he's your brother," got to be an old line and was used more often than not. Only once in a while was Buddy made to go play with his own friends. Steve was 16 and his dad had gotten him a car. Saturday morning, after the morning chores were done, Steve took a shower and got dressed to go out. Buddy began to be a pest and say he was going too. "Mom, Dad, does he have to go?" "Why not," his dad asked and gave him another $20. "You can bring him back after you're done." "Come on Brat," Steve said. When they were in the car Buddy asked where they were going. "To the barbershop, weren't you paying attention?" "Stop. Let me out. I'm not getting my hair cut." "Sorry Buddy, dad gave me the money for you to get one too. So, you are getting your hair cut." "Oh man. It was just getting long like I want it. I'll just get a trim then." "Dad said a hair cut. So you are getting a hair cut."

Steve decided he'd go to the old barbershop downtown. It wasn't where he usually went, but they gave haircuts, not trims. "That's not where you go," Buddy said as Steve pulled into a parking spot right in front of the shop. "It is today. Get out and let's get it done." Buddy got out but slammed the door to Steve's Mustang. It was an old fashioned 2 chair shop. Big black leather chairs that had worn to a warm brown. Comfortable. The barbershop smelled of clipper oil and hair tonic. There seemed to be just the one old barber this morning, Steve told Buddy to get in the chair and get his hair cut first. He climbed up in the chair and the barber set him up, paper strip around his neck and then the cape swirled out and fastened around his neck. Steve got up and told the barber to "buzz it all off, short, close as you can get it". Summer was almost here and it would be cooler and easy to take care of. Buddy started to raise a fuss but the old barber told him to "sit still," in a voice that brooked no back talk. The barber also didn't waste any time, he snapped on the clippers on and peeled off a center strip right on top of Buddy's head. Buddy sat there appalled with a tear leaking down his cheek. It took less than 10 minutes for the barber to mow all the hair from Buddy's head. He'd used the regular blades so the hair was perhaps an 8th of an inch all over. The barber zipped around the edges, cleaning it up after he'd loosened the cape. With a quick brush over to whisk away any loose strands of hair and a dash of talc at his neck, the barber lowered the chair and let Buddy down. The haircut had been so quickly done, Buddy was down while Steve was getting set up.

The second barber had come in as the old barber was cleaning up the sides of Buddy's head after having mowed the top off. Steve didn't move to get in the chair until the barber asked if he wasn't getting one too. He started to say that he'd just brought his brother but the old barber looked at him real sharp and told him to get up in the chair. "Your brother says you are both to get your hair cut." Steve got up rather reluctantly and sat down. His barber was a younger guy with a shaved head and an earring in his left ear. He got Steve set up and asked, "clean it up for you?" "I guess, Yes sir." The old barber said, "at least as short as his brother's here, Tom."  "One short haircut coming up." Without waiting for any complaint, the barber turned back to his drawer and pulled out a pair of red clippers. He smiled at Buddy who was now sitting on the bench watching. The clippers were snapped on, then off. The barber checked the set and added a little clipper oil and a guard. Then he clicked it back on. It was a smooth whirring buzz. Steve was shocked as the barber combed his hair back right on top and followed the comb with the clippers. He could tell from Buddy's grin that he was enjoying seeing it mowed off. He didn't notice the guard and so thought it would be buzzed like Buddy's had been. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, but having seen how quickly Buddy lost his hair, there was nothing he could do. The barber was obviously enjoying buzzing across the top of Steve's head.

Buddy sat mesmerized as the barber turned the clippers off once the top was shortened and took the guard off the blades. Putting the blades tight against the skin at Steve's temple, the barber quickly made a circle all the way around his head. Behind those Wahl 000000 blades there appeared to be bare skin. Once he determined the top of the cut, the barber took the sides and back off, starting with the sideburn on the right side which rolled down his shoulder into his lap. If the barber seemed a little rough, pushing his head this way and that, it was probably deserved and because Steve usually just got a trim rather than a hair cut it seemed so. Tom noticed that the young man was attempting to grow a beard, still somewhat scraggly. Once he'd cleaned off the back and sides, he put his hand under Steve's chin and used the clippers over his face. The 6 ought blades took the wannabee fuzz down to skin. It was too late to complain. The barber said, as he began to brush the loose hair from Steve's neck and shoulders, "you should get yourself a good razor and wait until it's heavy enough to grow one." Not having seen how his hair was cut, but having seen the long curls of hair that landed in his lap, Steve thought he was pretty much done. Not quite yet. The barber took out his black comb and began to make a little transition from the naked sides to the half inch top. He went all the way around. Satisfied, the barber lowered the chair a couple of notches, then took Steve's head in both hands and positioned it looking straight forward with no tilt to one side or the other. "Hold it just like that now or you get a shaved head." Steve held still, 'he wasn't going to be skinned like his brother?' The clippers were turned on again, Tom first started in the back and holding Steve's forehead still, took the naked back up onto the top of his head. Matter of fact, there was a bare strip that went just a little past the center on top. Then he started at the front and created a short flat top using the comb and the clippers. At the back it was right down on his skin. Tom went over it a second time to make sure it was just right. He turned the clippers off and set them aside. Next he used some 'butch wax' to make the flat top stand up, so that when it was brushed back he could see where it still needed a little touch up with the scissors and comb. Just a little snip here and there until Tom thought it was perfect. Now he loosened the cape and folded it down into Steve's lap. With the same red bodied Wahl clippers, the barber went around the edges of his neck, the sides all the way up, then again over the sideburns. A final whisk with the brush around his neck and collar, loading it with talc for the back of his neck. The chair was lowered, the cape removed, "there you go young man. That's a really good summer haircut if I say so myself." Steve stepped down out of the chair. He could see that Buddy had enjoyed watching him get his haircut, he was grinning and almost laughing. Steve turned around and saw his haircut for the first time. He reached up and felt the fine sandpaper feel of the sides of his head and looked at the flat top, turning his head to one side then the other. He took out his wallet to pay the barber. "No young man. That haircut is free the first time. Come see me again in a couple of weeks and we'll keep it like that for the rest of the summer." Steve almost stumbled out to his car. Buddy held out his hand, "give me my $20." "Why should I give it to you?" "Because if you don't, I'll tell dad." "Tell him. I don't care.  This is all your fault." "Alright, but you could save yourself some grief."

When they got home, Buddy raced into the house to his dad. "What happened to your hair?" "Steve told the barber to buzz it all off," he could hardly keep from laughing as he said it. "You should see what the barber did to Steve. He said that Steve should have to keep his hair that short all summer for having mine buzzed." About that time Steve came in. He held out the $40. "The barber didn't charge us."  Without seeming to notice Steve's high and tight flat top, he asked, "Why did you have Buddy's hair buzzed off?" "I don't know. I just thought it would be funny." "Do you still think it's funny?" "No sir." "Good. Because you will keep your hair cut just like that until school starts next year." Then because he saw Buddy stick out his tongue at Steve, he said, "both of you." "But dad!" "No butt's. You'll go every two weeks to the same barber and get the same haircut, both of you, and you'll take him," he said to Steve. "And, you will keep your face shaved, that will please your mom . Actually that haircut looks pretty good on you. I had mine cut that way once, back when I was in the Marines. Ok, you guys can go." He turned away. Steve asked his dad if it was ok if he went over to his friend Dave's house. "Just be back in time for supper." "Can I go," Buddy asked. "No. I think you need to go find your friends. They called while you were out and are down at the park playing ball." "Come on," Steve said. "I'll take you down there." He went back to his room and came back out putting his baseball cap on. His dad saw him. He motioned and said, "come here." "Yes sir?" He held out his hand. "No hat. You can sport your new haircut. Here's a twenty back, stop at the drug store and get you and your brother some sun screen. I'm sure you both will look better when it's tanned up a bit." "Yes sir." Steve and Buddy went out. "I'm sorry Buddy. It was just a joke. I guess it's my fault." "That's ok Steve. You look cool. By the end of summer you'll probably be keeping it like that all the time. Bet you don't let it grow long again." They both laughed.

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