Margo tells him to remove his jacket and to take a seat. She changes the shop sign to ‘closed’ and turns the latch. She’s been looking forward to today. In the back of the shop, Peter and his mother Heather stand waiting. Heather peruses the walls, covered in hundreds of photos of different hair styles, Peter looks out of place and Margo wonders if he has any idea what they’ve got in mind for him.

“Well, take a seat Peter.” Margo says, turning the large leather chair around for him. He sits and Margo places a pink plastic shawl around his shoulders and tucks it into his collar. “Sorry about the colour.” she says in a friendly voice, “We don’t have many young men in.” she adds before turning to his mother. “Now what did you have in mind?”

“Well something smart and tidy… but I’m open to ideas.” Heather replies.

Margo opens up a styling book in which she’s pre selected a few ideas. “Well, looking at what I’ve got to work with, we could do something like this, or this, or that’s nice.” she says, pointing out various styles to Heather and Heather alone. “What time is his appointment?”

“Oh not until one o’clock.” Heather replies.

“Well we’ve got plenty of time… maybe some highlights would be nice.”

“Oh yes.”

“Don’t I get a say in this?” Peter asks.

“Of course.” his mother replies. “Would you like some highlights?”

“Not really… I don’t even know what they are.” he replies.

“Well, with mousey hair like yours, highlights give it a bit of colour.” Margo says.

“I thought I was just going to have a trim.”

“You are… but you want to look your best this afternoon don’t you?” his mother says.

“Yes but…” Peter replies. “I just don’t want anything too drastic… I like it as it is.”

“Why don’t we give it a wash first, then we’ll decide on a style.” Margo suggests.

“OK.” Peter replies.

Margo picks up a compact digital camera and takes a couple of photos of him. “It’s always nice to see a before and after.” she says before reclining his chair so his head rests comfortably over one of those hairdresser’s sinks with a cut out for the neck.

Peter looks up at the ceiling as Margo gently lathers his hair. “It must be nice having somebody else wash your hair?” his mother asks.

“Hmmmm.” Peter replies, clearly at ease. What he doesn’t realise is that as his hair is being shampooed and rinsed, then conditioned and rinsed, his mother is preparing the ropes.

“Right we’ll just rinse off the conditioner.” Margo says, “Just keep your eyes closed because it could sting.” she adds, making sure Heather is ready. She leaves the shower head running over his hair and on the count of three… they both swiftly secure his wrists to the chair arms.