I Like My Stylist to Talk My Hair Off

            On Monday in the early afternoon I called Top Cuts at Yonge and St Clair to make sure Amy was going to be in that day. The person I spoke with confirmed that Amy would be there from 14:00 to 21:00. That meant that I could leave my place at 17:00, the time that I would normally take a bike ride.

            It took me half an hour to get to Yonge and St Clair, but once I got there it took me twenty minutes to find Top Cuts, not because it was hard to find though. I knew that the address was 1442 Yonge Street and before leaving home I tried to remember which side of a north-south street the even numbers are on. Recalling an address that I’d had on the east side of Bathurst back in the early 80s, it came to me that it had been an even number and so when I got to Yonge and St Clair I spent several minutes looking for 1442 on the east side and I was confused and frustrated that between 1431 and 1443, 1442 didn’t seem to exist. I walked into 2 St Clair West to be free of traffic noise when I called Topcuts. The woman that answered told me they were on the west side and then I realized what a dummy I’d been. At that point I remembered that the address where I'd lived on the east side of Bathurst had been 597. I unlocked my bike and rode a little past Topcuts because the only free bike post ring was several doors south in front of the Home Hardware where the staff were in a very good mood as they were bringing in their sidewalk display items to get ready to close.

            The studio was smaller than the one at Bay and Dundas. Amy and one other attractive stylist, who looked like she might be Ethiopian, were the only staff. Amy had the only female customer and there were three guys in the chairs ahead of me. I was the only one of them that looked like he needed a haircut.

            I sat and tried to remember and then wrote down what I remembered about the events of Sunday.

            As the guys ahead of me got attended to, two or three more men trickled in. When it was my turn I let the guy behind me go ahead because I was waiting for Amy. The other stylist smiled. No one else seemed to care which stylist worked on their hair, though I’m sure I'm not the only one that has a favourite. I saw a few guys with preferences at the Dundas and Bay salon.

            Amy and the other stylist have two very different styles of engaging with customers. The other woman just chews gum and quietly cuts her customer's hair, while Amy makes continuous conversation with every one of her clients. With me she remembers things that I've told her about my life and so it doesn’t feel like the conversation is forced or artificial.

            When Amy was ready for me I commented that her and her colleague are very popular with the boys. She said that it depends on the time of day but confirmed that there was more of a mixture down at Bay and Dundas. She said it’s better to cut men's hair because it’s less work.

            Amy says she’ll be going back to Thailand for three weeks in December for the first time in six years. Her parents are 70 and 68.

            The haircut after tax was $22.50. I gave Amy $30.00 and told her to give me back $5.00 but I added a toonie to the tip from my pocket.

            I went down Yonge all the way to Queen and rode home.

            That night I boiled a potato, heated an already grilled steak and sautéed the maitake mushrooms that I'd gotten from the food bank. The mushrooms looked like little squids in the frying pan. There were really two meals of mushrooms but I was afraid they’d go bad like the last bunch and so I ate them all and got a little stuffed.

            I watched an episode of Mike Hammer, Private Eye. This story was set around Halloween. Hemmer is late for a date at his new girlfriend's apartment and when he arrives he finds her bloody and dead in a filled bathtub. There is an “S" branded on her back. This fits the MO of a serial killer named Corey, who Hammer put in prison and is still there. Hammer suspects either a member of Corey’s Satan cult or a copycat killer. Hammer goes to see Corey and he seems more like an overacting male model than a psychopath. The next victim is a middle-aged reporter and friend of Hammer named Blue, who gets an “A” brand, but he survives the attack. Hammer, in looking for advice on how to catch the Corey inspired killer goes to see Rick Dybner who wrote a book about Corey. I knew right away that Rick was the copycat killer. The next victim is another friend of hammer who runs a newspaper stand and he gets a “T” brand. Corey’s style is to kill a total of five people in one spree until he’s spelled out "SATAN". Hammer's sidekick Nick meets an attractive blonde woman named Trish who invites him to a Halloween party but it turns out to be a meeting of Corey’s cult and Nick is the sacrifice. The cult members are all women and wearing matching outfits but they look more like a dark version of Victoria’s Secret lingerie, including stockings and suspenders than Satanic sacrifice attire. Meanwhile Rick kidnaps Velda. Hammer saves Nick and then goes to save Velda. Rick has her in the basement of his building. He did it to renew public interest in Corey and consequently in his book so he could make more money. Rick handcuffs Hammer to an overhead pipe but Hammer pulls down, breaking the pipe and sending steam into Rick’s face. After he takes Rick out he brands his forehead with the “N".