Bulldog Barber

***Bulldog Barber***
(#StorytellingSalemStory #999,995 out of 1mil:)

🎶So I’ve been travelling across the country—
town to town/city to city/State to State;
sitting down in random locations—
across this Nation— with a whiteboard in my haaand;
I’ve been asking pplllll:
“What’s Yor Story?”🎶

And when I was in Athens, Georgia, a tattooed barber with clippers hanging from his belt loop, looked and read, what was written upon my whiteboard. He sat in the folding chair one-next-over- to mine; and then started to share:

⸻

“You can tell a lot about someone by how they sit in a chair.
If they lean back, cross their arms, keep their eyes low. If they talk a mile a minute—or not at all.

I’ve been cutting hair for sixteen years. Had a shop, lost the shop, rebuilt it in the back of a laundromat that plays gospel radio all-day-long. Rent’s cheap- and the chairs are secondhand, but the conversations? Worth gold- plus-a-hundred-grand.

See, the haircut’s never just a haircut. It’s a break-up confession, a job interview warm-up, a silent prayer before a funeral; the beginning/middle/end of a new chapter. I’ve cut hair for high school quarterbacks, grandmothers with stage 3 cancer, tired nurses coming off night shift, and one guy who just got out after 12 years inside. He asked for ‘whatever makes me look like I belong again.’

And I didn’t rush.
I never rush.

One time a kid came in, maybe thirteen, nervous as hell. Could barely meet my eyes. He asked me if I could give him a fade like the rapper on his phone. & I said ‘sure-alright.’ Halfway through, he whispered, ‘My dad says I’m not tough enough. Think this’ll help?’

Maannn, I didn’t have an answer. Just kept cutting. But when I was done, I handed him the mirror and said, ‘You look like you’ve been through something—and you still showed up.’

That kid comes back every two weeks now. Ages a lil each time. Doesn’t say much.
Doesn’t have to.

The chair says enough.”

⸻

And then he reached for his phone, checked the time, and muttered something about an appointment at 4:25. He gave me a nod, slow and respectful; before getting up & strolling on again.

🎶And iiiii?
I stayed in that warm Southern shaaadee,
whiteboard in hand-asking passerbyers:
“What’s Yor Story?”
waiting for the next person to walk my waaaaaay~🎶

(#StorytellingSalemSaturdays #Story #999,995)