June Hunt met her husband in church. She was one of those good-Catholic-girls who had no other man but him. She allowed him to woo her and take her as his darling bride. They were married in that same church they met at.
She was content with being a meager housewife as he worked in town as a laborer. They were happy and had a good, healthy marriage.
Had.
One evening, as June returned from the grocery store, she heard thumping upstairs; in her and her husband’s bedroom. Thinking her man was just moving furniture around, she decided to go upstairs and surprise him. She made her way up the stairs but became uneasy as she heard a female’s voice come from behind the bedroom door.
June looked through the slit between the door and its hinges and saw her hubby messing around with another woman in their bed. Disgusted, she forcefully swung open the door, startling the couple of idiots, and stood on the threshold: red in the face. Her man looked on with shock as she couldn’t hold back the tears from falling down her face.
”Heh, honey… I- could you give us a five minutes to finish up and get dressed”,the man said, dumbly.
June nodded and replied,”Have the rest of the evening to finish up. I’m going to my mothers. And! I want a bloody divorce in the morning”
”Ah, honey”,the man tried to calm her but she shushed him with a stern finger.
June left that damned house and got on her bike, the only vehicle she had to herself, and pedaled all the way to the church. Before entering the church, she composed herself and walked proudly in. The priest watched her as she sat in a pew in the middle of the row. There, she sat looking at the priest looking at her. His presence seemed to make her break down. Concerned, he walked over and asked what was the matter. Sobbing, June told him what she saw and how she felt.
”That no good thief”,the priest cursed the cheating husband,”I would remove his manhood for such a trespass if I could”
His words didn’t inspire revolution in June’s heart but his declaration sure made her a bit better. He comforted her as she told him her plan to sleep at her mother’s place for the night. He encouraged her to do so and promised to be there to defend her at the divorce hearing.
June left the church and went to her mother’s who welcomed her with open arms. She was always suspicious of the man June called her husband but she never tried to get in the way of her daughter’s happiness. The woman hosted her daughter all night and into the morning.
Luckily, June had a spare set of clothes in her old room that still fit her. But they were of a childish design, a denim dress with swans on the front of it and a blue blouse under that. She slipped on some tennis shoes and headed downstairs for breakfast.
”Mom, do you have some money I can have?”June asked.
”What for?”her mother returned a query.
”I’m thinking about getting my hair cut”
Her mother was silent for a sec, giving her daughter a quizzical look. Then she replied,”I guess. How much do you need”
”30$ should be enough”,June calculated.
Her mother shrugged, guessing this all was a part of the grieving process. She gave her daughter the money and her daughter gave her a warm embrace. June hurried out of the house and into the town.
She didn’t want to get her hair done in her usual beauty parlor, that place was as good as dead to her. This was a new chapter in her life, she wanted somewhere unique. Walking along the sidewalk, she found her new place.
A barbershop just across the street, it wasn’t a lady’s spot by the look of it and that made June smile. Her feet almost ran over to the shop and she entered it, giddy as a little girl, a bell sang a little ditty to announce her arrival. The barber, an older gentleman with a huge mustache and unkempt hair looked up his issue of Men’s ware magazine at her.
”You lost, miss?”he asked, getting up from his throne.
”No, sir”,June giggled as she replied, sitting in his barber chair daintily,”I’m here for a haircut”
”Not many women come round to me for a trim”,the barber confessed, flapping his cape about and then using it to cover up June’s torso.
”Oh, I don’t want a trim”,June smiled.
”Well then, why are you here?”the barber asked,”Seeing that I already have you caped up”
”I do want a haircut”,June said,”But I want something shorter”
”Oh”,the barber raised one of his bushy, grey brows,”How short are we talkin’?”
There was a gleam in June’s eyes as she proclaimed,”Could give me a Mohawk, please”
The old barber was astonished and humored, he thought it was a joke. When June confirmed her request, he shook his head,”You fine young lady but I’m afraid I ran out of hair gel just the other day”
”Oh, that’s fine”,June waved,”We can let it hang loose”
Seeing that this woman had called his bluff, the barber pointed to his wall of haircuts and said,”You see, ma’am, that wall contains all the cuts I can do”
”Ah”,June nodded,”Then, I’ll have the number five, please”
The barber’s eyes widened, the number five was a flattop haircut. He couldn’t fathom why a woman like June would opted for such a haircut. But he had no choice and sectioned off the sides from the crown for cutting.
”What guard do you want me to use on the sides?”the barber asked.
”An zero-zero guard is just fine”,June smiled.
”Daring are we”,the barber chuckled.
”Yes”,June answered,”I am”
The barber took his place and bobbed the sides of June’s head before clippering it all. Tilting her head down, the clippers were switched on. A euphoria sensation filled June’s soul as the barber led the clippers up the backside of her head. Her bobbed, strawberry hair fell at the coming of the sliding blades. With the back done, the barber tilted June’s head this way and that to get the sides all nice and shortly stubbled.
He let her examine his work so fair as he grabbed his comb. She ran her palms over the sides and back of her head. It was all magical to her. June had never seen herself look any cuter.
Her barber took out the hair clips that pinned her top hair to her head and started up the clippers again. With the comb, he took down the length of the top hair til it stood on its on. It was nice and short and June loved the haircut. The barber tidied up her neckline and edges before releasing her.
He dusted the long strands of strawberry hair off her shoulders and lap and then the barber removed the cape from June. She didn’t rise from the chair immediately, she kept patting the top of her head. It was all so nice and she couldn’t stop staring at herself in the mirror.
When she was done admiring herself, June gave the man the money her mother gave her. He took it with a grin and waved her off.
June’s mother and the priest were shocked at her new change but agreed June was June and they focused on the court proceeding. June, herself, stared down her cheating husband who knew he had messed up and got her divorce papers finalized in no time.
She kept her hair short and flat, she liked it that way, and moved on with her life.
