From Jenne Gray and C.E. Ayr’s photo prompt, The Unicorn Challenge (11/17/23). No more than 250 words in length. Otherwise, let your creative flag fly!
Odd had told her the barber shop was three blocks over from the warehouse they were squatting in. It wasn’t that they didn’t have money. They just didn’t want to use it for nonessentials. When he’d seen the ragged job she’d done cutting her hair, he’d decided: a proper clean up was essential. Odd always had the final say, so here she was, ambling down the street in the early hours.
O’Chester wasn’t open yet. No lights on, so she used its window to get a good look. She’d gone from waist-length, blond hair to an uneven pixie that barely touched her shoulders. Looking on one side, then the other, she frowned. She liked it this way. Maybe it was Odd’s problem, not hers. Very attentive to her hair when they were being intimate, he’d wrap it around his fist as he moaned.
Maybe he was in love with her hair, not her. He hadn’t touched her this morning, turning away from her kiss and locking himself in the bathroom where she’d deposited her ends.
Fine. He could keep her clippings. She’d take her share of their cash and go. She’d left the US to see more of the world, so what was she still doing there after three months?
A light snapped on in the shop’s rear, and a man with an impressive mustache came forward, coffee mug in hand. Smiling, he unlocked the door.
“Here for a trim, or a job?” Squinting, he added “Or maybe both, eh?
© Liz Husebye Hartmann (2023)
Valley of the Trolls 
I don’t know if she and Odd will continue to live in perfect hairmony, but if I don’t look too deeply I can appreciate his sense of humor. And maybe his contribution to Movember?
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Movin’ on, I think…
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Oh yes, I knew she needed to exit that relationship as soon as I read ‘Odd always had the final say.’ Warning bells!!! I love the way you twisted this at the end (like hair around fingers??), however I’m getting more warning bells about the ‘impressive moustache’. Out of the frying pan?? But then, maybe she’s not averse to a bit of hair twisting herself, and a nice handful of lip hair can be given a good tug if things start to go pear shaped. Brilliant story.
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Thank you, Margaret!
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You always have an unexpected, and very good, twist!
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Thanks, Ann!
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Ah yes, men and long hair!
Nicely done, Liz, with he growing awareness that she needed to keep following her dream and that Odd was the one with the problem.
And a fun and unexpected last line.
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They can be a little…weird sometimes. And with that last line? Sometimes knowing the need for change gets you closer, but not quite right there. It’s all good.
Thanks, Jenne!
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As one (bathroom) door closes, another door opens…
Nice one, Liz
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Open the door, trip over the lintel, and there you are!
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Really enjoyed your hair piece, Liz!
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Tips the toupe in thanks! :-D
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Didn’t see that ending coming. Fun piece.
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Thanks, Doug!
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