The Gemini Diaries

Quick story here about Perritt's second real haircut. Over the past 2 years we've given him small haircuts from time to time but he only recently started going to the barber shop with me. The first time, we went to Danny's Barber Shop here in Sandy Springs. It's not really named Danny's, but I'll keep it as Danny's to protect the innocent. You'll see why later.

In any case, because I wasn't sure how he would react at the barber shop, I cut him a deal. Go to the barber shop and after we get our haircut, we'll go to the Dunkin Donuts next door and get a doughnut. I knew I was making a long-term deal here, but I also love doughnuts, so it wasn't a punitive commitment. Regardless , he was sold. "Go barba shop. Then get speshus (special) treat"

So the first time we went there, we got our haircut by a gentlemanly barber named Frank. He did a good job with my hair and just did a little cutting on Perritt's hair, just enough to get him familiar with the concept of getting a haircut. It was a great experience capped off with a delicious powdered doughnut. There's nothing like sitting at the doughnut shop with your little buddy having a powdered doughnut and an orange juice.

Since it was such a great experience, a few weeks later we went back to get our hair cut by Frank. Unfortunately, Fank wasn't there. It was just Danny. As in Danny's Barber Shop. See, this wasn't ideal because the reason we went to Frank the first time was because I've had my hair cut by Danny before. I didn't like it. It was too short and just didn't wear well.

But Danny is a fixture in Atlanta. He's been cutting hair for nearly 50 years years. He's an old-time barber and this is an old-time barber shop. It's *his* shop. So even though I had a bad experience with him before, I thought it must have been a fluke. No one can stay in business that long if they aren't good at what they do. Or so the thinking went.

In any case, we get there and we sit right down. I get my haircut and Perritt is already talking about his doughnut. This lets me know that we've sort of got a limited amount of time here before Perritt gets antsy. I know this. Danny does not. So while my haircut is going alright, Danny is almost literally telling me the history of how he learned to cut hair. The people he used to cut hair with. The different techniques. It's like hearing the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire being read to you. Only about hair. All the while, Perritt's getting more and more adventurous. He's climbing on things, playing with shampoos, combs. I'm doing the best I can do to keep him focused, but it's not really all that effective. And all the while, Danny is just keeping up the history lesson.

And sure, there's a lot of charm to that sort of thing, but you know, there's only so much time for that nostalgia when you have a 2 year old with you. 28 minutes later, I'm done. So it's Perritt's turn but I know that this won't take too long. Mostly it should be a quick affair. Just go through the motions. We don't really need a major haircut. Just a little trim.

Again, I know this. Danny does not.

So round and round he goes, trimming Perritt's hair. And Perritt's being good but this is going on and on. Perritt's just sort of sitting there, but sometimes he turns his head a little too fast. One of the times he does this, Danny clips a hole in his bangs. This is going south in a hurry. After what turns out to be an additional 15 minutes and more history lessons, he finally he gets to the end of the haircut and Perritt's looking a lot less like his old self. His long hair is gone. He looks like a boy. A boy with a pretty awful haircut but a boy all the same.

Luckily, Perritt doesn't care about his bad haircut. When he's done, he gets down, and says "Speshous treat now?" So I get ready to go and I ask Danny how much I owe him. He points at me and says $14 for me and then points at Perritt and says it's $14 for him. And I'm sort of surprised because last time Frank didn't charge for Perritt. I'm happy to pay but I'm thinking this should be a discounted cut at least. Not that he didn't cut enough hair, boy did he ever, but it was an awful haircut and he's 2 years old. I'm wondering why there isn't some gradation here.

Anyway, I don't really have a choice, so I pay him and we leave. As we're leaving though Perritt's talking about his doughnut again. He looks up at me and, totally unsolicited, says "May Poo like doughnut too?" And I look down at him and his awful haircut and say "Sure. What kind of doughnut do you think she would like." He pauses for a moment and then responds with "Pink one."

So we go to Dunkin Donuts and get a powdered doughnt for him and a pink doughnut for Mary Poole. While I'm sure we won't be going to Danny again for a haircut, I'm already looking forward to getting my next doughnut with Perritt after our next haircut wherever that may be.

It may be a while though. His hair is going to have to grow out a lot.