I said, "No, why do you ask?"
"Well when those tests are available, I want to get one for me, and one for Andy, my barber."
"Why the barber?"
"Because I want to get my hair cut!"
Spoken from a man who has hardly any hair.
But what is growing bothers him. A lot.
But I think even more than that,
he likes his barber and misses talking to him.
So a few more weeks pass, and Den's hair is getting curly and bushy and he doesn't like it.
Then last week suddenly says he wants to send some money to his barber. He feels sorry for him with the loss of income.
So he goes to his computer, and tries to get an address.
I suddenly heard Den from the other room, "What?!! Oh no oh no."
"What happened?" I say as I head down the hall towards him.
He said as he searched for Andy online, up pops not his address, but his obituary! Turns out he died in March.
Den just felt so sad about this, for days.
He talked lots about him and what a good man Andy was.
He said he had a sign in his shop that read, "No salty language allowed here," and if words ever got out of hand with his customers, Andy would just point to his sign.
Saturday morning, we drove by Andy's barber shop. I got out and looked through the windows, and then got back in the car.
Den turned to me and asked, "Well?"
"He's gone all right. The place is totally empty."
"How about his two barber chairs? Are they still there?"
"No. Nothing is left. Everything's gone."
It's just so sad. We have no idea what he died of.
Den said he always looked so healthy.
The funeral home has a very short obit on him that really doesn't tell much. He called there, and of course they wouldn't give any information.
I just noticed... Den keeps this right by his computer....
Looks like now I will be his barber.
It won't be the same for him.
Unlike women, men have very few men to talk to...
(not to mention I have no idea what to do with those clippers)
6 comments:
That's sad about Dennis' barber. Hey, the clippers are easy. I have been cutting Craig's hair since we got married and of course I cut my boy's hair all the time they were growing up, plus I occasionally cut Nick's hair and Chris' hair plus sometimes Ethan and Cooper! You'll do fine :-)
Sorry Den lost his favorite barber. Sad! But you'll get used to cutting his hair. It's kind of fun, actually, once you get the hang of it! When our favorite dentist retired in his 80s, I couldn't believe how SAD I was! And I haven't found a dentist that I've liked that much ever since. He was old-fashioned and conservative in his treatments, and I loved that about him.
darlene
Dennis,
I am sorry for your loss. It sounds as though you admired Andy greatly. I'm sure he thought of you, too, more as a friend than a client. How wonderful that you wanted to help him with getting tested and financially. Commendable attributes.
Thinking of you during this time of loss and profound changes.
pjc
How did this story end? Did you ever use the clippers?
Yes I did! And turned out to be the best hair cut he ever got, in my opinion.
I'm sorry you lost Andy the barber. I wonder how he died. Glad Dennis found a new expert barber!
Heidi
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