Al had been the town Barber for as long as anyone could remember. He had been cutting Cap’s hair for over 20 years. It wasn’t that hard to do really because it was more of a trim on the sides only. As the years went on Cap was more and more follicle-ly challenged. Cap blamed that on Ely, and ranching in general.
As any small town Barber will attest to, sometimes things get slow. There’s just not a steady stream of men who need their hair cut every day. Al had taken to keeping his shop open only a couple days a week, the other days of the week he used for golf.
It had been the topic of discussion at the last couple of Sunday coffee club meetings that Al had taken to drinking a little more. Even being open a couple days a week, he wasn’t busy all day. When customers weren’t in the shop, he kept a little cot in the back room and would get a nip of bourbon, then take a nap on the cot. When the front door opened, the bells tied to it would jingle and wake him up. He would come from the back room with a broom in his hand, but everyone knew what he was doing.
Cap expressed some concern that maybe someone should have a talk with Al. The coffee club agreed, but Cap came up with a different idea.
Al’s shop was in the old part of downtown. There were display windows out front where you could put shoes, or clothes just like any small town department store, but being a Barber Shop there was nothing to display…not most of the time anyway. Cap enlisted Ely and a couple others to help him on a Thursday afternoon when Al was supposed to be open for business, but had taken to using his cot instead of cutting hair. Afer removing their boots, they slowly opened the front door and Cap reached his hand inside grabbing the bells to keep them from making noise.
They crept into the shop. Al was a light sleeper, as the bells had been waking him up for the last few years. They sneaked, quiet as Commanches, in their socked feet, to the back room of the shop. There, sure enough, they found Al on his cot. Each man took a corner of the cot and gently lifted it off of the ground making sure to keep it even so as not to disturb their sleeping friend. They smoothly carried the cot to the front of the store and placed it, ever so gently in the front window display. Ely took a couple flowers they had picked and put them on Al’s chest. They almost couldn’t contain their excitement! You’ve never seen old men giggle like school girls until it comes to a great prank on a friend! They hurried out the back door and almost all collapsed into laughter.
After regaining control they rushed around to the front of the building to inspect their work. It was a sight! There was Al, passed out on his cot, hands folded on his chest with a couple flowers resting there too. To the eye that didn’t know any better…Al had passed on! The men sat down on the bench across the street, put their boots back on and prepared to be entertained. As people passed by, they stopped and paid their respects to Al. Some men even removed their hats! After a while a crowd had started to gather out in front of Al’s Barber Shop to attend his wake.
Right about that same time is when the fun started. Al’s nip of bourbon had caused him to have a dream of some sort. This dream led to him reach up and scratch his head…two women almost fainted. When this commotion started, their light sleeping friend was awakened to find himself on display in the front of his shop, with admirers all around…some of which had almost fainted. Next he found the flowers on his chest and it was at that point that Al wondered if he had died! When he stood up off of the cot and could see Cap, Ely and two other men leaning on each other to keep from falling because they were laughing so hard on the bench across the street, it all became clear. He jumped down from the display, grabbed his hat and ran out the front door of his shop heading towards the bench across the street. Cap, Ely and the others scrambled for their trucks and sped away before being caught.
The culprits are all looking for new a Barber now…their pony tails are getting long!
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