Taken from our very own Thomas Broadley's weekly, sometimes monthly, blog, this story snippet explores the time he cheated on his first barber, and the suitably punishing consequences...
I remember when I cheated on my first barber, something I still blame my brother for roughly 3 years later. I remember driving past on the way to have our hair cut somewhere else, feeling like an accessory to some awful crime, like some filthy barber tart spreading my short back and sides all over town. I could feel his eyes watching me from behind his novelty curtains, decorated with pictures of razors and beards, his cold face silhouetted in red, and then white, as his barber pole spun above the door. I couldn’t relax as I sat in the chair of some other barber, trembling in fear and shame, checking the door every few seconds in case my regular barber appeared there, shaking his head slowly as a single tear rolled down his face and I desperately tried to explain, to say how sorry I was, through the double- glazed window. My head was flying from side to side like Michael Flatley on speed as I scanned the street outside, so much so that my new barber nearly cut my ear off as he trimmed my sides, which would have been suitable punishment, retribution for my dirty crimes. I expected the swat team to screech up outside, lights flashing as I handed over my money. I was a nervous wreck. Even a chupa-chups lolly from the jar on the counter couldn’t calm me down. I didn’t sleep for weeks. When I did, my dreams were full of spinning chairs and red and white poles, giant pairs of scissors that chased me down, chanting about my shame. I could barely live with myself.
But then, unbelievably, a few months later I did the same again. Perhaps it was because I hadn’t had time to form a relationship this time, or maybe it was due to the fact that they were beginning to get suspicious about the volume of chupa-chups that went missing after my visits. Whatever it was, though, I was off again, this time just over the road from the original...
If you are gripped, as you should be, by this classic thriller, then you can finish the story or sample more of Thomas' blogs via the suitable website: https://quaranteenramblings.blogspot.com/