a simpler time

I finally got around to Shaving The Beard today, and then called Bruce The Barber and asked if he'd had any Rita-related cancellations. Indeed, he had.

"There's an opening in 2 hours," he said. "Can you make it?"

You betcha. A barbershop's a good place to be when Something Big is on the way. You can hear the (sometimes weird) opinions of others as they come in, sit down for a cut, and tell their views about Stuff to anyone who will listen can overhear.

I heard about the woman who ran into Sam's Club yesterday with her dire prediction of impending doom: "There ain't agonna be no gas tomorrow!" she shouted (to no one in particular), and then she ran back outside, into the cultural abyss that is Addison.

I listened as several patrons groaned when they heard that Dallas may only get 2 or 3 inches of rain out of Rita's fury. They appeared to be hoping for an instant cure to the recent dry spell. Memo to the clueless: a hurricane is overkill for a drought.

Another of The Cutters said that, yes, indeed .. they've had Katrina Refugees from Louisiana come into the shop(pe) for a cut. "They talk funny," the cutter said, in her finest Texas ta-wang. I asked her if sales of hairspray would skyrocket, now that so many Rita-refugees from Houston are in town, and she affirmed: "yes, that'll probably happen" without understanding the joke*

* Houston women (in particular) love to keep their Big Hair maintained with an unnaturally large amount of hair spray. I suspect it has something to do with that city's (in)famous Humidity.

Alas, it was time to Pay The Piper and make my way home, past the long lines at the gas station where the marquee said "REGULAR $2.79". One day, I will look back upon this as A Simpler Time. Until then, I must feed Beta the Wonder Dog, lest she eat my carcass while I sleep.