My Barbers, Different yet the Same

 

Tony has been my barber for twenty years

Great guy, looks like Mr. Clean

Dome top, huge muscles

Yet delicate with scissors, I still have both ears

 

I considered warily the first I saw his shaved top

Would he know how

Could he do a business cut

Yet he’s quick, efficient, and runs a successful shop

 

Its only 10 or 15 minutes per visit, as it should

But over so many years

You get to know about

His business, his family and our neighborhood

 

Now in another town, needing a cut for good reason

A business meeting coming

Find a shop, it’s random

I walk in and met by a woman, named for a season

 

She has purple hair, ring in her nose, and youth

I think oh no

But I remember Mr. Clean

I suspend my disbelief and slide into her booth

 

She asks me what I want, I think… I want Tony

But I say, business cut

Above the ears, to collar in the back

She works, we discuss who has the best local Coney

 

Surprise, surprise, everyone says they really like my hair

So last week it was time again

I went back to her shop

Well where she works, and I was pleased she was there

 

She says it’s nice to have hair to work with, just as I sit

I ask meaning, confused

She says a guy was in earlier

He has three strands of hair but wants a cut like Brad Pitt

 

Autumn heard me talk on the phone about business while I await

She looks up notes

From last she cut my hair

Smart, she is able to repeat the cut, and my fears totally abate

 

Turns out she knows her business, and is really quite smart

I learn about the franchise

I learn about her

I no longer miss Tony, at least when thousands of miles apart