Barbers

Now if HW2 can write about her excellent trip to get her hair done, I thought I could write about the 'Mars' version of the same event, going to the barber. In Omaha I first tried to find a barber near our house and set out one morning down Ames Street. I went up and down the street looking, finally found a shop, and went in to find it catered to black people, I think. But, needing a haircut, and in for a penny, in for a pound, I went in and sat down. I was asked if I needed a cut and said yes. A young barber said to check out the styles on a chart and let him know which came closest to what I needed. There were few that seemed to be what I needed, as I am not into afros and dread locks, but I picked out one, and he started by saying that he had never cut the hair of a white man. Well, he snipped and snipped, and a half hour later I paid and was told I only had to pay the amount for Seniors and did so with a tip for the young man. When I returned home, Kristy was there visiting, and when she heard about my trip to the barber on Ames Street started to laugh and said: "Don't you know that is the Black part of the city?" I replied, "I do now."

Another time, Kristy and the kids were visiting us in Albuquerque, and James was in need of a haircut, as was I. I offered to take him, but since he was a little tyke, he did not like to get too far from his mom. With significant reservations on my part (what did I do if he began to cry?), we set out for the barber shop. I said if he was a good boy in the chair, I would get the exact same haircut, and this interested him. He was great in the chair and got his haircut followed by me, and we proudly went home with our crew cuts. Kristy laughed and laughed, and HW2 kept saying: "Why did you do that?" I liked having a crew cut again, which I had all through college. It was so easy to take care of, just wash and dry. Now days, sadly, it is too thin to have a crew cut.

Finally, in Omaha the minister of our church told me about his barber, who liked to do stained glass, and when I went there not only did I get a great haircut, and we also could talk glass making. We even took a class on making lamp shades together since we found out that we had had the same teacher in our previous glass classes. Bob also likes to ride his motorcycle and take his family (usually his school teacher wife) on weekend bike rides.

Now, I am left with a question for the reader. Almost all the barbers I have come in contact with are men who like what they do, have outside interests and their families to talk about, as they cut your hair. When HW2 goes to a beauty shop and has a male person cut her hair, it seems to me that he frequently is gay. Now why is that?