2006-05-05 - 5:48 p.m.
I just wrote this as part of a longer essay. I�m not really sure how well it incorporates into the whole piece; I guess I�ll talk it over with my editor (if you�re reading, hi Rachel!). But here it is as sort of a first draft for your amusement:
A few weeks later I had an appointment for a haircut at my barber�s new salon. Having a regular hairdresser was a relatively new phenomenon for me. I had let my hair grow for almost the entire 1990s, although it never seemed to get much longer than just-past-shoulder length. At the end of the decade, I got invited to a friend�s wedding and thought maybe I should go in for just a trim so I�d look more touched-up for the other guests.
I figured since I�d saved on haircuts for so long, I could afford to go to a fancy salon. I picked the one I�d gotten a coupon for in the mail and was assigned to a chair staffed by what may have been the only straight male hairdresser on Newbury St. He was an �migr� from Russia named Sasha and spoke with a rather thick accent. After we introduced ourselves, he stepped back to assess my head.
�Hmm. Your hair, it is long. So, tell me. What do you want?�
�Well, I don�t know really. I haven�t done this in a while. I was thinking just a trim for a wedding I�m going to? But I�m not sure now. I was thinking about how my hair is always up in a ponytail now. I never wear it down anymore. It just doesn�t seem to look right.�
He eyed my scalp skeptically for a moment.
�This is because you are going bald.�
Wow, I thought. Putting it like that didn�t mince any words. I mean don�t pull any punches on my account; I can take it! Shit. Maybe he�s right. Maybe sometimes it just takes an objective Russian barber to give it to you straight.
�Uh. Then what should I do?�
�You should cut it all off.�
�Like completely bald?�
�Not necessary yet. You can do this someday; you have nice-shaped head. But for now, you should get it cut very short.�
�Huh. Can I leave a little long part for a braid like a padwan apprentice in the new Star Wars movie?�
�No, this is not good idea. How you say? Corny. Besides, this movie was months ago. Is not so much new anymore.�
�I guess.� I took a deep breath. Maybe my hair was indeed trapped in an early-90s ponytail and I looked like I was on my way to a Magic: The Gathering dorkfest card game. Maybe it was time to grow up. �Okay, cut it all off.�
Afterwards, having my hair short looked pretty good and felt pretty right. But it turns out that haircuts are kind of a racket. After you get one, you have to keep coming back for more. So every other month or so for the next few years, I would go back to Sasha. He got to know me pretty well. When I found out I was sick a few months later, I had a haircut appointment the next day. I told him in a panic and he even took me out for a drink to calm me down.
�This multiple sclerosis, we had it in Russia too.�
Well, probably not everyone had it in Russia. But I thought about this. At the moment, my traumatic concern was that it was happening to me. But I guess it also happened to a lot of other people all around the world.
�You must make it good thing. Look at what you do with life. Now you do things so it count good.�
When I told him I wouldn�t need another appointment as I was moving to Providence because I�d been accepted at Brown as an older student, he seemed as close as I�d ever seen him to excited.
�This is very good. Brown is Ivy League, yes? My daughter should do so well when she apply to college. You do this because you get sick?�
�I don�t really know.�
�Well, no matter. It is just next part of life.�
Yes. Yes that was right. Just the next part of my life. I guess we�d see how it goes.
� 2006 Geoff Gladstone
Sign My Guestbook!
powered by SignMyGuestbook.com
�
