A trip to The Barber Shoppe

Red's Barber Shop is the most popular barber shop in New Brunswick. It is owned and run single handedly by an 86 year old man fondly called 'Red' by the local people. When I reached Red's I saw a short spectacled man with a machine in his hand busily cutting away someone's hair with lovely orchestrated jazz music playing in the background. As I swung the door open a little bird in a cage chirped loudly. "Hey there young fella... how you doing today ?" was his greeting. Kept in a corner, neatly, was a stack of popular magazines, including "The Rolling Stones". While waiting my turn , I noticed how steadily and swiftly Red's hands moved, despite his age. Red was a natural conversationist. We talked about several things... music, women, food... he quickly figured out it was my first time there and that I was new to the place. As he machined my hair, I wondered whether he had any family or he lived alone... lonely as they show them in Hollywood movies. He had a great taste in music and knew a lot about jazz and blues. "I don't like them hip-hop and metal they make these-a-days" he retorted. We changed several CD and he cracked some real funny jokes. "If you ever wanna hear this kinda music, just drop in ("Big Band music" he called it), and I've got some Playboys too". With my first haircut in this country I left after paying the 12 $ I owed him.

As I left he said: "Oh do have a cookie before you leave. It comes with the haircut"

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