Friday, December 02, 2005

"freshen up the wig" part I

So...I don't know if non-black people are aware of this, but cutting our hair is a bit different than other people's hair. And, as a general rule, most black folk prefer to have another black person cut our hair, you know, since they deal with it themselves every day.

I haven't had my hair cut in over a month, and it's kind of getting unruly, so I decided that I was going to look for a barber in Topeka. (By the way, I don't think I've mentioned this before, but Kansas is WAY more diverse than I thought it would be - props to Kansans.) I met a black teacher at the school I was at today, and she gave me the address of a barber who was open late on Fridays. I was very excited.

I drove all the way over to the barber shop, which is on the opposite side of town from my temporary domicile, parked the Smooth Ride I'm driving, and strolled in the shop...where I was informed by the barber that he was booked solid for the next week. He pointed me across the way to another barber shop, which (1) looked WAY sketchier, and (2) was closed. I called the number on the sign and, as the message stsrted playing, realized that it was someone's pager or cell phone, so I didn't leave a message. Ten minutes later I received the following phone call, with loud rap music playing in the background:

Hello?

This *&%#$@&*. Who this?

Uh, this is K-Lance.

You call me?

(Realizing who this probably is)

Yeah...I need to get my hair cut.

Well, I'm done for the night, son.

Okay...are you open tomorrow?

Yeah. But don't hit me up until 12 or so, 'cause I got to take care of someone before then.

Okay. Hey, are...

CLICK.


So I guess I'm getting my hair cut t'm'row.

I kind of want to go out tonight, but I know ABSOLUTELY NO ONE in this town, other than my partner. And all of the people I met this week were either 18 (or younger), or too old to go to bars. So I guess I'm going to sit in this nice house and read some old Rolling Stones. If you're in the area and want to entertain me, or know of anything fun to do around here, please let me know...

3 comments:

DH said...

Sorry man...an hour away from you. Driving through Topeka tomorrow, but will have the whole family with me.

Hope you found something to do.

As for A-List's comment...downtown Topeka is, indeed, a ghost town.

Bright-Eyes said...

um. You can read some stepehn king and try to go to the train station he is always talking about....

Did you get your hair cut? I went through a similar thing in VA. Trying to get my hair did. It can really be a chore sometimes.

Marj said...

so... how did it go? Did you get it cut, huh? HUH??? Piccies?

~wyn ^_^