The Interview 2
by Titan
Eddie didn’t know what was going to happen to him; he knew these guys could be brutal so he knew to keep quiet while they did their best. He wondered what he would look like bald, and as if reading his mind, Mitch wheeled over a full-sized mirror. Eddie could now watch the action as Con quickly removed all the hair on top.
“Yeah Eddie! We’re going to help you get that new job,” Con said as he heard Mitch chuckle.
He kept going over the same area until there was only a dark shadow remaining. Eddie could now see what they were doing. They weren’t making him cue-ball like them; they were making him look as if he had male-pattern baldness. His hair on the sides and back remained untouched by the clippers. Tears started to well up in each of his eyes. He never wanted to look this old! He loved his hair which only a few hours before had been almost down to his shoulders. How long was it going to take to grow it all back again? And he could hardly go for the interview looking like this!
Suddenly there was silence as the clippers were switched off. Eddie could see now he was indeed looking older. The hair on the sides had remained untouched, and with the gray dye that Louie had applied made him look even older now. He couldn’t stop looking at top of the head; it was just a shadow of hair. Suddenly he saw Con come behind him with a spray can. He saw the thick, white lather start to fall on the shaved scalp. He could feel the coolness as Con spread it over the buzzed areas. Then a razor followed. He could feel the blades removing the stubble as they moved slowly leaving smooth skin in their wake. Soon the blade was gliding effortlessly as the dome became hairless. Con wiped a warm towel over the smooth pate. Eddie had to admit it felt good. Despite his fear and anger, he had to admit it felt unreal especially when Mitch started to rub his huge left hand over his baldness.
“Good job Con! Hard to believe it’s not natural.”
Con had been careful to make the hairline look natural where shaved skin met hair.
Eddie just stared at the new haircut. He’d always wondered what he would look like if he lost his hair. Now he knew. Not that he had a badly shaped head for the look; he just wasn’t ready for a male pattern baldness look at 26, especially one so advanced. As he turned his head he could see how careful Con had been to ‘feather’ the edge of the hairline so as to make the baldness look natural.
“So what do you think, Eddie? Old enough for you?” Con chuckled as he showed the results in a hand-held mirror,
“Bastards!” Eddie spat as he saw the bald crown in back.
“Careful son. It sounds like you’re not appreciative!” Con continued.
EDDIE’S APARTMENT
Eddie had to admit, he didn’t expect Mitch and Con to drop him off at his apartment.
As he looked in the bathroom mirror and felt the damage with his hands he started to wonder how long it would take to grow his hair again. The skin on his scalp was so white; it looked strange against the rest of his face – exactly like it had just been shaved.
“Shit!” he said out loud. What was he going to do? His interview was in four days.
Suddenly he thought to ring Kevin. He’d always been a good friend. As he dialed Kevin’s number, he wasn’t sure if he wanted anyone seeing him like this. He decided to hang up before Kevin answered. It was getting late. He thought he should leave it to the morning.
As he lay his head down on the pillow, he slowly stroked the top of his head and felt the stark contrast between the horseshoe of hair and bare scalp.
Eddie wasn’t sure if he was dreaming or not. He was sure he was asleep, but he thought there was shadow moving in the room. The smell of chloroform was strong then he saw blackness. He thought he was lucid at times, even hearing a voice sounding familiar. How long did he sleep for? He felt a prick in his arm. “Wha?… you inject…” he heard himself say then the tiredness overcame him.
Eddie dreamt of men. Big, older men. Some with huge bellies and thick, dense graying beards. All having varying degrees of baldness. He heard himself say they looked repulsive, but something kept telling him they were attractive, virile, even more masculine. Older bears were sexy – everyone knew that! Eddie couldn’t understand why he was dreaming all this. He must have been dreaming this. Or was he?
Slowly, Eddie eyes opened. He felt groggy, indifferent at first. Then he became aware of strong sunlight coming through his window. He had a headache and felt lethargic. As he got out of bed he suddenly recalled a strange night of dreams. He dragged himself to the bathroom and as he saw himself in the mirror his mouth dropped. It hadn’t been a dream at all – his head was male pattern bald. He took his left hand over the naked scalp noticing the re-growth and surprised and a little disappointed at the rough stubble already.
He never thought his hair would grow back so quickly. Still; wasn’t that good that it was growing back so quickly. He wondered why part of him was disappointed. Re-signed to his predicament he took himself to his kitchen to make himself a cup of coffee
He needed to shake off the sluggish way he felt. He noticed the message light on his answer machine flashing. Pressing the messages button he was surprised to hear he had 8 messages. Six messages were from Kevin who sounded worried he hadn’t heard from Eddie. Eddie wondered what was going on. Kevin’s last message sounded as though he hadn’t head from him in days. One message was from his potential employer asking for him to call them..
Eddie dialled Kevin’s mobile.
“Where in the hell have you been? I’ve been worried about you. Ever since I heard that Brad Melrose blabbing about you getting your just desserts.”
Kevin started to shout as soon as he heard Eddie’s voice. “Why haven’t you called me? It’s been days since you went to Louie’s. I wanted to find out how you went.”
“What do you mean days?” Eddie asked wondering what his friend had been smoking.
“I only went yesterday!”
“Yesterday! More like 6 days ago.”
“What do you mean? It’s only Thursday bro!” Eddie went on to tell his friend.
“Thursday! It’s fucking Tuesday dude!”
“What?” Eddie started to wonder what had been going on. How could he have been asleep so long? Where did the time go?
“Shit! Tuesday! My interview was Monday! I’ve missed the damm interview! But how?”
Eddie started to rant.
LATER THAT DAY…
“So they’re still going to interview you then?” asked Kevin, who was now in Eddie’s apartment.
“Yeah! Can you believe it? Only trouble is how can I turn up looking like this?” Eddie gasped, pointing to his head.
“To be honest pal, it looks good on you. You said they wanted a more mature applicant; well now you look the part. Besides, once you have the job you can start growing your hair again.”
Eddie remembered he heard the same advice from the Barber he’d gone to. “I could never go like this – I have to do something; anything!”
“Well why not go back to Louie. I’m sure he can fix it.” Kevin offered.
“Yeah; maybe you’re right. He was very helpful when I went to him.”
“I’ll set it up for you. Let him know what’s happened.”
“Gee! Thanks Kevin. I owe you.”
The interview was re-scheduled for Friday, 3 days away. Eddie got an appointment with Louie that afternoon.
Louie couldn’t stop grinning when he saw Eddie and his new hairstyle.
“Well you certainly have the mature look now Eddie!” Louie said as he directed Eddie to the chair.
“This isn’t what I wanted. Two goons from my ex-partner’s company said they wanted to teach me a lesson. If I wasn’t so scared of what they’re capable of, well, I’d go to the cops.”
“It doesn’t look that bad you know. You look kind of distinguished now,” Louie tried to sound positive.
“What! I’m only 26 – I’d like to look my age, not like some old bald guy!” Then Eddie realized Louie had a frown. “Sorry! I didn’t mean it like that. You’re older, and it suits you.”
“Gee. Thanks!” Louie returned, not looking too convinced by Eddie’s apology.
“Look,” Eddie tried to change the subject, “is their something you could do to fix all this”.
“Sure thing Edward!” Louie said.
Suddenly, Eddie’s eyes glazed over, when he heard the trigger phrase. Louie quickly went to work. ‘You’re older – it suits you!’ Louie repeated aloud to himself, as he lowered the back of the chair. Eddie was completely hypnotized, and at the mercy of a barber who wanted revenge!