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Speaker 1: Welcome to the ten Minute Storyteller. That's me Bill Simpson,

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Speaker 1: your host, narrator and author. We hear at the ten

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Speaker 1: minute Storyteller endeavor to entertain you with tall tales or

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Speaker 1: rendered swiftly and with the utmost empathy. We pledge to

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Speaker 1: pack as much entertainment, emotion, and exploration into the human

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Speaker 1: condition as ten minutes will permit mini novels on steroids.

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Speaker 1: Today's story is entitled The Haircut, a simple tale on

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Speaker 1: the surface, but in fact teeming with tension, highly charged emotions,

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Speaker 1: and fear of the unknown. The Haircut is a timeless

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Speaker 1: tale of fathers and sons, domestics, rife, loss of innocence,

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Speaker 1: and the long haul to manhood. The Haircut. They pull

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Speaker 1: up to the curb outside Lenny's barber shop on Maine. Lou,

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Speaker 1: tight fisted, drags a fin out of his wallet, hands

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Speaker 1: it to Tommy haircutting. The shaves two bucks kid, two

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Speaker 1: bits for a tip. Make sure you get the change,

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Speaker 1: and you tell Lenny to cut it tight and make

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Speaker 1: your face just as smooth as a baby's butt. Tommy giggles, Wait,

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Speaker 1: huh a shave I'm only ten, I don't shave dad Well,

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Speaker 1: Lou wants to cry, but he's a tough guy and

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Speaker 1: he wants his kid to be a tough guy. So

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Speaker 1: instead he laughs and says, just messing with your tea man,

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Speaker 1: just messing with you. Tommy laughs too, Well, you're always

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Speaker 1: messing with me. Dad Lou gently slugs his boy on

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Speaker 1: the arm. So go ahead, now, go on in there.

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Speaker 1: Huh wait what you're not coming? Nope, not this time.

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Speaker 1: Time for you to step up and be a man,

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Speaker 1: go about the business of a haircut all on your own.

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Speaker 1: But dad, Tommy trails off, he feels the earth quake.

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Speaker 1: It's okay, kid, you can do it. Go ahead, but

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Speaker 1: but but but we always go to Lenny's, you know,

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Speaker 1: together from like from like, since you know, I was

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Speaker 1: just a kid. Oh, hell, tom it's just a haircut,

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Speaker 1: no big thing. Well it is a big thing, it's not.

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Speaker 1: Tommy says, well, you need a haircut too. I'm growing

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Speaker 1: mine out one more time before I go bald. Oh

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Speaker 1: I don't need a haircut either. I'm going to grow

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Speaker 1: mine out too. Tommy doesn't exactly know what desperate is,

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Speaker 1: but that's exactactly how he's feeling, even though he doesn't

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Speaker 1: really know why the earth quakes again. Now here's the thing,

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Speaker 1: tom I guess the thing would be manhood. Yep, good

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Speaker 1: old manhood. Going in there, so loo with your shoulders

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Speaker 1: back and head up is part of your passage to manhood.

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Speaker 1: You know. You just march right in there. Give Lenny

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Speaker 1: a big AlOH, ask him has things, Maybe tell him

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Speaker 1: a joke, the one about the priest and the rabbi,

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Speaker 1: and then and then take a seat, pick up the

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Speaker 1: latest issue of Car and Driver and read about the

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Speaker 1: new Mustang till till Lenny calls you to the chair.

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Speaker 1: Tommy's pretty sure he's going to cry, but knows if

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Speaker 1: he does, his father will get all ornery and tell

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Speaker 1: him not to be a sissy, to take it like

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Speaker 1: a man. So he pulls back hard on those tears

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Speaker 1: and says, but, but, but I never say anything to Lenny.

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Speaker 1: You always say everything you say, stuff like, well that

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Speaker 1: pitching staff the Yanks should win a hundred games easy,

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Speaker 1: or or Lenny, a man a man needs a wife.

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Speaker 1: But for the life of me, I can't figure out

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Speaker 1: why a cook and a right hand offers the same

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Speaker 1: deal for a whole lot less trouble and money. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: you always say that and Lenny laughs, and he has

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Speaker 1: that big grumpy laugh. You know that's what happens, yeah,

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Speaker 1: says Lou. Marriage And then after a while, listen, kid,

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Speaker 1: that's sore inside your mouth. It always feels one hundred

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Speaker 1: times bigger than it really is. I don't have a

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Speaker 1: sore in my mouth, right, Yeah, I know. I'm just

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Speaker 1: like I'm using a metaphor or something. Now, now come

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Speaker 1: on out, you go. I see there's a couple guys

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Speaker 1: in front of you, So just go on in there

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Speaker 1: and sit tight, you know, Lenny. He cuts fast and

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Speaker 1: never says a goddamn word learned at home, but most

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Speaker 1: of us never do. Long as you keep your trap shut,

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Speaker 1: you can't say the wrong goddamn thing. Well, it takes

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Speaker 1: another minute or two, but eventually Tommy pulls on the

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Speaker 1: handle and pushes open the passenger side door of that

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Speaker 1: Chevrolet bel Air had a boy te man at a boy.

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Speaker 1: Tommy climbs out, steps up onto the sidewalk. He wants

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Speaker 1: to ask his father if he's going to wait right here,

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Speaker 1: but he's afraid of the answer, so instead he turns

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Speaker 1: quick and says, I'll see you. Lou says, remember, kid,

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Speaker 1: cut it tight and face as smooth as a baby's butt.

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Speaker 1: Tommy manages to smile. He knows what it's been like.

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Speaker 1: He sees them, he hears them. He's not some blind,

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Speaker 1: deaf mute. Still, he pulls open the barbershop door. The

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Speaker 1: bell over the door clangs. He looks up at the

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Speaker 1: barber hovering over his barber chair, but when Lenny Tall

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Speaker 1: and dour makes eye contact, Tommy quickly averts his gaze.

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Speaker 1: They both glance out the window and watch the bell

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Speaker 1: air two door pull away. Tommy picks up A Boy's

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Speaker 1: Life and nervously paus his way through the magazine without

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Speaker 1: seeing a thing. He wouldn't mind going into the little

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Speaker 1: bathroom in the back and throwing up, but he can

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Speaker 1: hardly breathe, let alone find the courage to go all

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Speaker 1: the way back there. Ten minutes later, Lenny gestures for

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Speaker 1: him to come and take his turn. Tommy, shy and

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Speaker 1: so scared, he practically trembles climbs up into the chair.

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Speaker 1: It's not the haircut, or Lenny. It's not even that

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Speaker 1: his dad didn't come in with him this morning. Lenny says,

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Speaker 1: how do you want a kid? Well, Dad says, to

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Speaker 1: cut it tight. Dad, huh, well, where's Dad. Like, I

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Speaker 1: guess he had some errands, right errans. So let me

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Speaker 1: ask again, how do you want it? How do I

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Speaker 1: want it? How do you mean? Man's got to decide

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Speaker 1: what kind of haircut he wants for himself. Son, can't

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Speaker 1: be worrying about the haircut somebody else wants him to get.

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Speaker 1: Tommy thinks about this, glances at his hair in the mirror.

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Speaker 1: It's so short. It's always so damn short, the way

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Speaker 1: his old man likes it, like like he's in the

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Speaker 1: army or something. Well, asks Lenny, standing there with scissors

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Speaker 1: in one hand, long black comb in the other. What's

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Speaker 1: it gonna be? Kid? Tom t Man reminds himself about

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Speaker 1: the whole manhood thing. Shoulders back, head up. You know Lenny,

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Speaker 1: He says, he's never called Lenny Lenny before, never called

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Speaker 1: the barber anything. Really, I don't want it shorter. I mean,

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Speaker 1: I mean, look at it. They both look at Tommy's

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Speaker 1: hair in the mirror. There's not much to look at,

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Speaker 1: after all, when you get your hair cut tight every

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Speaker 1: Saturday morning. Well, Lenny offers the slightest hint of a smile.

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Speaker 1: Okay by me, kid, But I gotta tell you. I

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Speaker 1: got no way to make it longer short of putting

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Speaker 1: down my scissors and pointing the way to the door.

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Speaker 1: Tom nods, and then, all pumped up and with a

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Speaker 1: fin in the front pocket of his dungarees, he climbs

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Speaker 1: down off that big barber chair and practically skips over

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Speaker 1: to the door. He pulls it open, steps outside, looks

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Speaker 1: up and down. Maine doesn't see Dad's car, but he

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Speaker 1: does see Mom's station wagon parked up and across the street.

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Speaker 1: Neither the car he doesn't see, nor the car he

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Speaker 1: does see, surprises him. Upsets him some maybe sure, but

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Speaker 1: doesn't surprise him. It's just mom and dad. Mom and

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Speaker 1: Dad calling it quits again, calling it quits again, No

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Speaker 1: big thing. Thanks for listening to this original audio presentation

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Speaker 1: of the Haircut, narrated by the author. If you enjoyed

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Speaker 1: today's story, please take a few seconds to rate, review,

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Speaker 1: and subscribe to this podcast. The Ten Minute Storyteller is

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Speaker 1: produced by Andrew Paglici and Josh Colodney and as part

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Speaker 1: of the Elvis Duran Podcast Network in partner ship with

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Speaker 1: iHeart Productions. Until next week, this is Bill Simpson, Your

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Speaker 1: ten Minute Storyteller.