The �Appointment"
Mrs. Williams smiled, pleased that she could get in for a trim at her usual salon. She had to make the appointment with the new young owner, Tina, but she wanted the trim and was glad to get a slot before closing. The WMU (Women�s Missionary Union) of the Sraussville United Methodist Church was holding their annual children�s fund bazaar and sale tomorrow and she wanted to look great. As president of the WMU she had a responsibility to look her best at these events. In her 43rd year, Mrs. Williams was a slim (she thought) woman with good taste (she thought) in clothes. She wanted her hair freshly trimmed for the event.
Tina checked the clock again. Yes, it was 5:40 and Mrs. Williams was ten minutes late. Ordinarily that would be no trouble, but tonight her young son�s birthday celebration was going to be underway at 6:30 and she wanted to close the salon and be home. And just then, the little chime rang and Mrs. Williams hustled into the shop-ten minutes late and not a word of apology. She was wearing her characteristically boring clothes-khaki skirt, white boat-neck tee and Dockers shoes. Tina thought how great she would look in a nice super short blonde style, with a red mini and a black bustier. That was not going to happen any time soon. This was not a good start, but at least a trim wouldn�t take too long.
�Well, good to see you Mrs. Williams. Glad to have you in the shop. Now, you wanted a trim, right?" Mrs. Williams gave a nod and strode confidently over to the chairs lined by the mirrors.
�Sit here, by my station. And we�ll get started." Mrs. William�s hair was three and a half to four inches all over without much shape or taper. In fact it was not so much of a style as a convenient length for Mrs. Williams. Tina had styled her hair a number of times, and had often suggested cuts and styles that would have improved her looks, but had always been rejected. Mrs. Williams stated that she knew her hair best.
Mrs. Williams expected a shampoo and a conditioning, but instead, Tina sprayed her hair from the pink bottle and started to cut without the shampoo. Mrs. Williams felt her comb the style, and start the cut. Soon small pieces of damp hair began to litter the black and pink cape, and the black and white floor tiles.
She noticed that Tina kept glancing at the clock-probably going out drinking with her girlfriends. Rumor among the women at church was the Tina had a lot of girlfriends, good friends, in fact too good. Rumor was that she was in love with some of her girl friends. Mrs. Williams thought that she probably should go to another salon that wasn�t owned by a gay, but she had been coming here for several years and liked most of the stylists, even if Tina wasn�t her favorite person in the world. Beside a hair cut was not a moral choice and she didn�t really care who Tina took to bed with her.
Tina picked up her blow-dryer and started to dry her hair against the brush, slowly driving the dampness out of the hair and giving it a bit of body and style. In fifteen minutes she had cut, dried and styled her hair. Wow-that was quick, she thought.
Tina rotated her chair, and Mrs. Williams stood up slowly, running her fingers thought her warm hair strands and looking first at the sides and front and then the back with the mirror that Tina was holding up.
�Wait a minute, did you cut anything off?" she asked Tina testily.
�Of course, I did. Look at the chair and the cape." Tina answered.
�Well, it doesn�t look cut at all to me. I mean it was this long when I walked in."
�But," Tina stated flatly, not wanting to have a long argument, �I did cut it. That will be $24 like usual."
�$24!! You can�t be serious. You didn�t shampoo, condition and I don�t think you cut enough off to charge me $24! I won�t pay. I demand a real haircut."
Tina looked like she was chewing gum. (She was really chewing the inside of her cheek to try to keep her hot temper)
�All right, let me make a phone call, and I�ll give you a shampoo, cut, condition and styling. Do you have an hour?"
�Of course I do, child," Mrs. Williams snapped, �I planned on a regular haircut, so I made the time."
Tina was gone to the front desk for a few minutes to make a phone call and to close the shop, lock the door and turn off the waiting room lights.
When she returned she was humming a quiet tune and seemed to be in a better mood, at least in a mood to actually take care of the customer�s needs. (At least that�s what Mrs. Williams assumed.)
�Yes, dear," Tina said, sort of breathlessly, �I�ll do exactly what you have asked. A shampoo, a much better trim and cut, then a special conditioner to finish you off, a rinse and a blow-dry and styling. I�m so sorry about the miss-understanding."
�I certainly will make things right this time," Tina thought grimly, but with a sense of humor.
She led Mrs. Williams to the sinks for the wash, using her best shampoo. Then gently patting her hair damp dry with a towel that she wrapped around her head, Tina helped her to sit up from the sink. After combing Mrs. Williams out, she then took her back to her cutting station. The black and pink patterned cape went around her neck, but this time, Tina took special care to be sure it was tight around her neck.
Then as she usually did, she turned the customer away from the mirror and began the cut. She started in the back this time. As she combed through for the guideline, she smiled grimly and set her fingers right against Mrs. William�s neck, so when she cut, a full three inches came away. She worked quickly across the neck and up the back of her head. Next she moved to the right ear and cut quickly around the ear. It was at this point that Mrs. Williams must have sensed something was up. She seemed to shift her hair away from Tina�s fingers and scissors.
�Are you a bit uncomfortable?" she asked?
�No, no, I�m fine" was the reply. After having asked for a cut, Tina chuckled inwardly, she couldn�t very well complain about having a cut now, could she? And this was her chance to give the woman the cut and style she had always wanted to give.
So she carefully trimmed the right side, then did the left and connected the two sides with the back. Using her thinning shears she clipped the back and lightened the short hair on the back and around to the sides. She sensed that Mrs. Williams knew the game was up, so she started to chat with her to distract her a bit. They talked about the upcoming church event and how all the women of the district would be there. It would be just the place to show off the new trimmed style, wouldn�t it? Oh yes it will be the talk of the town, thought Tina.
Now she was ready to start the crown and the top of the hair. Tina combed the long top section down over the sides and back. She thought that by now the die is cast and the jig is up, she might as well go in for a penny and in for a pound. She allowed three-fourth of an inch and started the cut at the crown, blended the back and crown together by point cutting. She worked her way toward the front, as she neared the bangs area she began to slice cut, allowing slightly longer pieces to blend in with the very short pieces.
Next came the bangs and now, Tina thought, it was time for the truth to hit Mrs. Williams right between the eyes. She turned her back to face the mirror. Before Mrs. Williams could fathom what had happened to her hair, she said briskly,
�Now we have to do something about these bangs. Do we want to keep them long? Or do we want a shorter asymmetrical look? While Tina asked these questions, Mrs. Williams first starred wide eyed at her new short cut. Then she gasped, and then realized she couldn�t complain, and then she stammered,
�Well n�n�not t--too long. They might get in my eyes."
�Ok," Tina spoke up quickly, �we�ll make them short and asymmetrical�longer on the right than on the left. It�s a very in look right now."
She first used the scissors to cut a blunt right to left angled bang. Taking the razor she sliced them into individual lengths to lighten them. Now when she combed them across from the part, they laid back nicely and when they were combed down, they would dry with a slanted angle across Mrs. William�s
forehead. Nice!
�Next it�s time to finish the edges and get the perimeter cleaned up." Mrs. Williams looked questioningly at Tina. �Yes, when someone wants a style like this one, you need to use the clippers to get the taper correct at the hairline and clean up around the ears. It won�t take but a second and then we�ll get that special conditioning treatment underway. You did say you had the entire hour right?" Mrs. Williams would not let Tina know�but she was both so angry and so confused.
How could she feel this way? She hated short hair, yet she sort of liked the look she was getting. She hated Tina right now. Yet at the same time, she couldn�t let Tina know it. She couldn�t let Tina know how upset she was. She had to play the part. So she drew in a deep breath and watched carefully as Tina started to clean her black Oster clippers. They looked like the same clippers that George used on her Bobby and her boy, Rich. She looked for the first time at her new short hair. It was so short that her scalp could be seen glimmering through her hair. And more than just short, it was severely short. Tina had left her bangs combed back and it looked like a man�s cut or for heaven�s sake like the short cuts the church women had seen on some of Tina�s girlfriends. But it was too late now; she had let her temper control her mouth and now she had to live with it.
She was slapped into reality by the buzzing near her ear. Tina was using the naked blades of the clippers right in front of her ear, cutting slowly, carefully and closely around her ear. The vibration of the clippers and the feeling of Tina�s fingers as she bent her ear were totally new to Mrs. Williams. As Tina used the clippers to taper above the ear and around the back she used a black comb with short teeth. She flicked the clippers across the comb and she worked her way up the back of Mrs. Williams head. She felt the clippers slide down her neck, and realized with a start, that this was the same way that George, the barber, cut her husband and son�s hair. She shuddered involuntarily. Next was her left ear, just as short, just as severe.
�Now, Mrs. Williams, this is something I do for my special girlfriends when I cut their hair this short. I use the razor to shave around the edges of the hairline. It makes the cut spectacular." And without missing a beat, Mrs. Williams felt the soft shave cream and watched as Tina spread the cream around her right ear, around the back and them around the left ear.
Taking the straight razor, Tina said quietly, �Just relax and hold still, I�ve done this many, many times on my men�s barber cuts and on some of my girl friends. So, no worries now." Mrs. Williams watched in horror as the razor sliced away the very shortest of the clipped hair into smooth skin. �You�ll get used to this, because you�ll need to come in for regular trims and as short as we went tonight, I�ll do this each time.
Losing her self-control, inwardly, Mrs. Williams did something that she never would have done out loud. She thought �Like Hell you will, your damn hands will never touch my hair again." Then she did a mental gasp � oh now what will the church women think? Luckily they couldn�t hear what she was thinking!
What Tina was thinking was entirely different. She exalted inside as she slid the razor gently down Mrs. Williams neck. And cleaned the razor off with the bar towel. And did it again, moving the razor over the neck area and around her left ear. She sighed with the sheer pleasure of it. She imagined stroking the short clipped and shaved hair, kissing her lips softly and holding her closely. But there�s more work ahead and not enough time to think about that. So Tina whipped the last of the shaving cream off and said, in her business like voice,
�Now we�ll get that special conditioner mixed up for you."
She brought Mrs. Williams back to the shampoo stations and began to mix the �conditioner." Now truth be told, and truth should never be a victim, there was a conditioner in the mix, but there was also a fast acting, 30% bleach. And even if she had said 15 minutes, 20 minutes from the time the timer started to tick, Mrs. Williams would not only be the newest Straussville UMC church member with short hair, she would be the newest blonde at the church bazaar.
She used her gloved fingers to apply the bleach/conditioner to the short hair, because it was so short, she could massage the bleach mix into the hair easily without using a brush. She covered Mrs. William�s hair with a plastic cap, and moved the heat lamp over her head. �The heat works to finish the conditioning. Now I�ll set the timer and we�ll let the conditioner work." The timer began to tick and the bleach began to work. Gently, gradually and permanently the bleach began to work, the conditioner kept her hair shafts smooth and the bleach drained the light brown out of her hair, until DING! Only the blonde was left.
Tina hurried over, turned off the heat lamps and moved them away. She laid Mrs. Williams back and began to rinse, slowly adding a small amount of shampoo and lathering the bleach and conditioner out of the hair and scalp. Sure enough, Mrs. Williams was now a blonde. After a bit of drying and a little bit of wax and the soft yellow blonde hair would look simply smashing!
Tina took a deep breath, now the moment of truth was here. She helped Mrs. Williams to sit up and began to comb through the short blonde hair. She parted it on the side and combed the wet hair back. Then she sat down next to Mrs. Williams, who looked surprised.
�Mrs. Williams, I have to make a confession to you. When I had to redo your hair, I had to miss my six year old son�s birthday. I�m not happy about what I�ve done to you. But I did it and now it�s done."
�What do you mean?"
�Just listen. You are now a blonde. I dyed your hair as well as conditioned it. You have a super short hair cut. All I have to do is to let it slip that I�ve taken a little shine to you and that you are my new special girl friend. Now I won�t do that as long as you cooperate. This is how you will cooperate. You will tell me and all your friends in the church and the WMU that you love your new cut and color. You will tell them all about your super stylist, Tina. You will return in four weeks to get a trim and to color your roots. If you fail me, my friend Mrs. Williams, all of this town will know that you and I are gay girlfriends. Oh by the way, all the gossip is true, I am gay and I have a special friend who is gay as well."
�So what�s it going to be, girl friend?"
Mrs. Williams drew a deep breath. �Let�s see what I look like as a short haired blonde. I have a feeling that I�m going to love it. I mean, you recommended the cut and color, right?"
So Tina led her back to the styling chair and began to dry her hair slowly. As it dried, she dropped a few drops of a waxy hair dressing unto her palms, rubbed it in to warm it up and began to massage it into the hair. She spiked it up across the top of her head, then finger tipped the bangs, combing them across her forehead. It really did look great! The soft blonde color glimmered in the lights of the beauty shop.
�Now that�s actually a $44 hairstyle, but we�ll call it even at $24," she whispered softly. �Now are we going to be girlfriends, or am I going to be your super stylist and new hair colorist?"
Mrs. Williams swallowed and then said, �You are my super stylist and colorist. Just don�t tell anyone about us, I�ll be back in four weeks and I�ll stay blonde until you decide to change me again."
Mrs. Williams walked out of the salon, in a daze. She felt the back of her hair, and could not believe how short it was, how stiff it seemed to be. And when she saw her reflection in a store window, she was amazed to see a blonde looking back at her. She allowed a few tears to leak out of her eyes at the way she looked and she was sad, until she got home. Her husband�s surprise soon turned to affection in a way that she hadn�t experienced in a long time. She decided maybe this wasn�t such a bad cut after all.
Mrs. Williams did return in four weeks and eight weeks and for the rest of the fall and winter, she was a blonde with super short hair. Her enthusiasm for the cut soon led to several other women of the church to try Tina. And soon there was a super short lady with black hair, and next a red-head with clipped hair and finally two more blondes joined Mrs. Williams. Yes Mrs. William�s years of leadership in the Straussville UMC WMU really had an impact.
Mrs. Williams smiled, pleased that she could get in for a trim at her usual salon. She had to make the appointment with the new young owner, Tina, but she wanted the trim and was glad to get a slot before closing. The WMU (Women�s Missionary Union) of the Sraussville United Methodist Church was holding their annual children�s fund bazaar and sale tomorrow and she wanted to look great. As president of the WMU she had a responsibility to look her best at these events. In her 43rd year, Mrs. Williams was a slim (she thought) woman with good taste (she thought) in clothes. She wanted her hair freshly trimmed for the event.
Tina checked the clock again. Yes, it was 5:40 and Mrs. Williams was ten minutes late. Ordinarily that would be no trouble, but tonight her young son�s birthday celebration was going to be underway at 6:30 and she wanted to close the salon and be home. And just then, the little chime rang and Mrs. Williams hustled into the shop-ten minutes late and not a word of apology. She was wearing her characteristically boring clothes-khaki skirt, white boat-neck tee and Dockers shoes. Tina thought how great she would look in a nice super short blonde style, with a red mini and a black bustier. That was not going to happen any time soon. This was not a good start, but at least a trim wouldn�t take too long.
�Well, good to see you Mrs. Williams. Glad to have you in the shop. Now, you wanted a trim, right?" Mrs. Williams gave a nod and strode confidently over to the chairs lined by the mirrors.
�Sit here, by my station. And we�ll get started." Mrs. William�s hair was three and a half to four inches all over without much shape or taper. In fact it was not so much of a style as a convenient length for Mrs. Williams. Tina had styled her hair a number of times, and had often suggested cuts and styles that would have improved her looks, but had always been rejected. Mrs. Williams stated that she knew her hair best.
Mrs. Williams expected a shampoo and a conditioning, but instead, Tina sprayed her hair from the pink bottle and started to cut without the shampoo. Mrs. Williams felt her comb the style, and start the cut. Soon small pieces of damp hair began to litter the black and pink cape, and the black and white floor tiles.
She noticed that Tina kept glancing at the clock-probably going out drinking with her girlfriends. Rumor among the women at church was the Tina had a lot of girlfriends, good friends, in fact too good. Rumor was that she was in love with some of her girl friends. Mrs. Williams thought that she probably should go to another salon that wasn�t owned by a gay, but she had been coming here for several years and liked most of the stylists, even if Tina wasn�t her favorite person in the world. Beside a hair cut was not a moral choice and she didn�t really care who Tina took to bed with her.
Tina picked up her blow-dryer and started to dry her hair against the brush, slowly driving the dampness out of the hair and giving it a bit of body and style. In fifteen minutes she had cut, dried and styled her hair. Wow-that was quick, she thought.
Tina rotated her chair, and Mrs. Williams stood up slowly, running her fingers thought her warm hair strands and looking first at the sides and front and then the back with the mirror that Tina was holding up.
�Wait a minute, did you cut anything off?" she asked Tina testily.
�Of course, I did. Look at the chair and the cape." Tina answered.
�Well, it doesn�t look cut at all to me. I mean it was this long when I walked in."
�But," Tina stated flatly, not wanting to have a long argument, �I did cut it. That will be $24 like usual."
�$24!! You can�t be serious. You didn�t shampoo, condition and I don�t think you cut enough off to charge me $24! I won�t pay. I demand a real haircut."
Tina looked like she was chewing gum. (She was really chewing the inside of her cheek to try to keep her hot temper)
�All right, let me make a phone call, and I�ll give you a shampoo, cut, condition and styling. Do you have an hour?"
�Of course I do, child," Mrs. Williams snapped, �I planned on a regular haircut, so I made the time."
Tina was gone to the front desk for a few minutes to make a phone call and to close the shop, lock the door and turn off the waiting room lights.
When she returned she was humming a quiet tune and seemed to be in a better mood, at least in a mood to actually take care of the customer�s needs. (At least that�s what Mrs. Williams assumed.)
�Yes, dear," Tina said, sort of breathlessly, �I�ll do exactly what you have asked. A shampoo, a much better trim and cut, then a special conditioner to finish you off, a rinse and a blow-dry and styling. I�m so sorry about the miss-understanding."
�I certainly will make things right this time," Tina thought grimly, but with a sense of humor.
She led Mrs. Williams to the sinks for the wash, using her best shampoo. Then gently patting her hair damp dry with a towel that she wrapped around her head, Tina helped her to sit up from the sink. After combing Mrs. Williams out, she then took her back to her cutting station. The black and pink patterned cape went around her neck, but this time, Tina took special care to be sure it was tight around her neck.
Then as she usually did, she turned the customer away from the mirror and began the cut. She started in the back this time. As she combed through for the guideline, she smiled grimly and set her fingers right against Mrs. William�s neck, so when she cut, a full three inches came away. She worked quickly across the neck and up the back of her head. Next she moved to the right ear and cut quickly around the ear. It was at this point that Mrs. Williams must have sensed something was up. She seemed to shift her hair away from Tina�s fingers and scissors.
�Are you a bit uncomfortable?" she asked?
�No, no, I�m fine" was the reply. After having asked for a cut, Tina chuckled inwardly, she couldn�t very well complain about having a cut now, could she? And this was her chance to give the woman the cut and style she had always wanted to give.
So she carefully trimmed the right side, then did the left and connected the two sides with the back. Using her thinning shears she clipped the back and lightened the short hair on the back and around to the sides. She sensed that Mrs. Williams knew the game was up, so she started to chat with her to distract her a bit. They talked about the upcoming church event and how all the women of the district would be there. It would be just the place to show off the new trimmed style, wouldn�t it? Oh yes it will be the talk of the town, thought Tina.
Now she was ready to start the crown and the top of the hair. Tina combed the long top section down over the sides and back. She thought that by now the die is cast and the jig is up, she might as well go in for a penny and in for a pound. She allowed three-fourth of an inch and started the cut at the crown, blended the back and crown together by point cutting. She worked her way toward the front, as she neared the bangs area she began to slice cut, allowing slightly longer pieces to blend in with the very short pieces.
Next came the bangs and now, Tina thought, it was time for the truth to hit Mrs. Williams right between the eyes. She turned her back to face the mirror. Before Mrs. Williams could fathom what had happened to her hair, she said briskly,
�Now we have to do something about these bangs. Do we want to keep them long? Or do we want a shorter asymmetrical look? While Tina asked these questions, Mrs. Williams first starred wide eyed at her new short cut. Then she gasped, and then realized she couldn�t complain, and then she stammered,
�Well n�n�not t--too long. They might get in my eyes."
�Ok," Tina spoke up quickly, �we�ll make them short and asymmetrical�longer on the right than on the left. It�s a very in look right now."
She first used the scissors to cut a blunt right to left angled bang. Taking the razor she sliced them into individual lengths to lighten them. Now when she combed them across from the part, they laid back nicely and when they were combed down, they would dry with a slanted angle across Mrs. William�s
forehead. Nice!
�Next it�s time to finish the edges and get the perimeter cleaned up." Mrs. Williams looked questioningly at Tina. �Yes, when someone wants a style like this one, you need to use the clippers to get the taper correct at the hairline and clean up around the ears. It won�t take but a second and then we�ll get that special conditioning treatment underway. You did say you had the entire hour right?" Mrs. Williams would not let Tina know�but she was both so angry and so confused.
How could she feel this way? She hated short hair, yet she sort of liked the look she was getting. She hated Tina right now. Yet at the same time, she couldn�t let Tina know it. She couldn�t let Tina know how upset she was. She had to play the part. So she drew in a deep breath and watched carefully as Tina started to clean her black Oster clippers. They looked like the same clippers that George used on her Bobby and her boy, Rich. She looked for the first time at her new short hair. It was so short that her scalp could be seen glimmering through her hair. And more than just short, it was severely short. Tina had left her bangs combed back and it looked like a man�s cut or for heaven�s sake like the short cuts the church women had seen on some of Tina�s girlfriends. But it was too late now; she had let her temper control her mouth and now she had to live with it.
She was slapped into reality by the buzzing near her ear. Tina was using the naked blades of the clippers right in front of her ear, cutting slowly, carefully and closely around her ear. The vibration of the clippers and the feeling of Tina�s fingers as she bent her ear were totally new to Mrs. Williams. As Tina used the clippers to taper above the ear and around the back she used a black comb with short teeth. She flicked the clippers across the comb and she worked her way up the back of Mrs. Williams head. She felt the clippers slide down her neck, and realized with a start, that this was the same way that George, the barber, cut her husband and son�s hair. She shuddered involuntarily. Next was her left ear, just as short, just as severe.
�Now, Mrs. Williams, this is something I do for my special girlfriends when I cut their hair this short. I use the razor to shave around the edges of the hairline. It makes the cut spectacular." And without missing a beat, Mrs. Williams felt the soft shave cream and watched as Tina spread the cream around her right ear, around the back and them around the left ear.
Taking the straight razor, Tina said quietly, �Just relax and hold still, I�ve done this many, many times on my men�s barber cuts and on some of my girl friends. So, no worries now." Mrs. Williams watched in horror as the razor sliced away the very shortest of the clipped hair into smooth skin. �You�ll get used to this, because you�ll need to come in for regular trims and as short as we went tonight, I�ll do this each time.
Losing her self-control, inwardly, Mrs. Williams did something that she never would have done out loud. She thought �Like Hell you will, your damn hands will never touch my hair again." Then she did a mental gasp � oh now what will the church women think? Luckily they couldn�t hear what she was thinking!
What Tina was thinking was entirely different. She exalted inside as she slid the razor gently down Mrs. Williams neck. And cleaned the razor off with the bar towel. And did it again, moving the razor over the neck area and around her left ear. She sighed with the sheer pleasure of it. She imagined stroking the short clipped and shaved hair, kissing her lips softly and holding her closely. But there�s more work ahead and not enough time to think about that. So Tina whipped the last of the shaving cream off and said, in her business like voice,
�Now we�ll get that special conditioner mixed up for you."
She brought Mrs. Williams back to the shampoo stations and began to mix the �conditioner." Now truth be told, and truth should never be a victim, there was a conditioner in the mix, but there was also a fast acting, 30% bleach. And even if she had said 15 minutes, 20 minutes from the time the timer started to tick, Mrs. Williams would not only be the newest Straussville UMC church member with short hair, she would be the newest blonde at the church bazaar.
She used her gloved fingers to apply the bleach/conditioner to the short hair, because it was so short, she could massage the bleach mix into the hair easily without using a brush. She covered Mrs. William�s hair with a plastic cap, and moved the heat lamp over her head. �The heat works to finish the conditioning. Now I�ll set the timer and we�ll let the conditioner work." The timer began to tick and the bleach began to work. Gently, gradually and permanently the bleach began to work, the conditioner kept her hair shafts smooth and the bleach drained the light brown out of her hair, until DING! Only the blonde was left.
Tina hurried over, turned off the heat lamps and moved them away. She laid Mrs. Williams back and began to rinse, slowly adding a small amount of shampoo and lathering the bleach and conditioner out of the hair and scalp. Sure enough, Mrs. Williams was now a blonde. After a bit of drying and a little bit of wax and the soft yellow blonde hair would look simply smashing!
Tina took a deep breath, now the moment of truth was here. She helped Mrs. Williams to sit up and began to comb through the short blonde hair. She parted it on the side and combed the wet hair back. Then she sat down next to Mrs. Williams, who looked surprised.
�Mrs. Williams, I have to make a confession to you. When I had to redo your hair, I had to miss my six year old son�s birthday. I�m not happy about what I�ve done to you. But I did it and now it�s done."
�What do you mean?"
�Just listen. You are now a blonde. I dyed your hair as well as conditioned it. You have a super short hair cut. All I have to do is to let it slip that I�ve taken a little shine to you and that you are my new special girl friend. Now I won�t do that as long as you cooperate. This is how you will cooperate. You will tell me and all your friends in the church and the WMU that you love your new cut and color. You will tell them all about your super stylist, Tina. You will return in four weeks to get a trim and to color your roots. If you fail me, my friend Mrs. Williams, all of this town will know that you and I are gay girlfriends. Oh by the way, all the gossip is true, I am gay and I have a special friend who is gay as well."
�So what�s it going to be, girl friend?"
Mrs. Williams drew a deep breath. �Let�s see what I look like as a short haired blonde. I have a feeling that I�m going to love it. I mean, you recommended the cut and color, right?"
So Tina led her back to the styling chair and began to dry her hair slowly. As it dried, she dropped a few drops of a waxy hair dressing unto her palms, rubbed it in to warm it up and began to massage it into the hair. She spiked it up across the top of her head, then finger tipped the bangs, combing them across her forehead. It really did look great! The soft blonde color glimmered in the lights of the beauty shop.
�Now that�s actually a $44 hairstyle, but we�ll call it even at $24," she whispered softly. �Now are we going to be girlfriends, or am I going to be your super stylist and new hair colorist?"
Mrs. Williams swallowed and then said, �You are my super stylist and colorist. Just don�t tell anyone about us, I�ll be back in four weeks and I�ll stay blonde until you decide to change me again."
Mrs. Williams walked out of the salon, in a daze. She felt the back of her hair, and could not believe how short it was, how stiff it seemed to be. And when she saw her reflection in a store window, she was amazed to see a blonde looking back at her. She allowed a few tears to leak out of her eyes at the way she looked and she was sad, until she got home. Her husband�s surprise soon turned to affection in a way that she hadn�t experienced in a long time. She decided maybe this wasn�t such a bad cut after all.
Mrs. Williams did return in four weeks and eight weeks and for the rest of the fall and winter, she was a blonde with super short hair. Her enthusiasm for the cut soon led to several other women of the church to try Tina. And soon there was a super short lady with black hair, and next a red-head with clipped hair and finally two more blondes joined Mrs. Williams. Yes Mrs. William�s years of leadership in the Straussville UMC WMU really had an impact.
