FONTAINE

“So what have you been up to, Luke?” Charlie said in a soft tone as he worked at the back of hair snipping at the curls. He flicked his scissors like a cowboy and went back in for the kill.

“Oh you know, same stuff; I quit my job.”

“I’m sorry mate, what are you going to do now then”

“I’d reckon it’s an effort fit for congratulations, Charlie. I dunno I’ll just do something else II guess”.

Charlie smiled

“Why did you quit?”

“My boss thought it was disrespectful that I wouldn’t let her disrespect me”.

“Oh, yeah, you can’t have that.Is that what she said?”

“Nah”

“Hah”

“Yeah anyway though” I said “How have you faired during the lockdown? When I called up you guys seemed like you were all at it, cutting hair in here like a madhouse at 8:00am in the morning”

“Yeah, we’d planned a trip to Sydney for the weekend before this lockdown but we put it off and just got back down to work”

“Nice”

“Did you hear about that couple that spread it up to Queensland?”

“Yeah”

Another hairdresser piped up “they should throw the book at ‘em”

“Oh?” I said

“Yes, definitely; that sort of behaviour needs to be punished”

“But if they punish people for disclosing information like that people won’t disclose anything – then we’ll have an even worse situation.”

He put his scissors down and walked over “What if they killed your mother?”

“Well, it’s the virus that kills people, not people; and I’d be glad they told me.”

There was an eerie silence.

I continued “If they told me I’d be hopeful It would be helpful in stopping the virus spread further”

The silence continued.

“I’m going grey, Charlie” I said after two minutes

“Yeah but you wear it well mate”

“Thanks, I like that grey streak”

“Yeah, like Cruella de Vil. Did you hear about that cinema where someone spread it? They were all watching Cruella de Vil.

“Am I Cruella de Vil, Charlie?”

“Maybe…but nah” he continued “you know people in regional Victoria can still drive to the airport and go wherever they like; it’s just Melbourne that’s the hotspot”

The other hairdresser piped up again “yeah, the steaming pile of ….” then added “and the economy here”

Charlie kept cutting my hair. “So, I’m going to leave this back bit and sort out the front”

“Ok Charlie, whatever you reckon mate; you know I can’t get by without you now; you’re the best hairdresser I’ve ever had.”

As soon as I said it I realised it was true.

Charlie smiled and flicked his scissors again.

I couldn’t even pay him at the end. He didn’t mind, “just bring it in tomorrow mate”

“No worries Charlie. Tomorrow; I’ll be here with the money”

“I know”

I got on a tram that went by my old workplace. Some tram inspectors got on and started checking tickets. I got up and walked to the door. A fat man in a fluro vest with a big black puffer jacket underneath started to walk in my direction. The boots were black; police standard issue.

“ticket please”

“I’m getting off at the next stop”

“ticket, I need to see your ticket”

“do you?”

“yes, show me your ticket” he raised his voice

“ok” the doors opened and I walked off.

The man yelled after me “we’ll be waiting on the next ram mate!!!”

“Cool” I thought to myself and walked into the bottle store. I brought one bottle of wine and one bottle of Chinotto up to the counter..

“I dunno if I have enough money on my card for both of these” I said to the clerk “let’s try them both, but I know there’s enough for the wine; I need that wine.”

She put it through.

“Approved” she said and I saw her eyes smile from behind a surgical mask

“Approved!” I smiled back.