41. HairLoomChallenge5

A portable bar had been set up nearby as well as the silver tiffin cakes trolly. Drinks were served. Lady Ireene Sanders accepted a cup of tea, while Gillbert Burke took a chota peg. Margarette, sitting beside them enjoyed a gin sling, waiting for her fiance to be barbered.
"Not long now Reeney," Margarette spoke to her friend.
"Silly sods. Both too proud to accept a compromise gracefully."
"The game must be played to its end Maggie," pontificated Burke from his elevated position. "Anyway, what's a little hair between friends?"
"That's all I need, a bald groom and a bald best man. The wedding photographs will look a fright," moaned the bride-to-be.
"At least they will look unusual in the years to come Margarette. Not like everyone else's marriage pictures. Yours will be original."
"There's that I suppose," admitted Margarette, noticing that both the men were much more tense than they were pretending and she relished the thought that it served them right.
Burke sat apprehensively by with his chota peg, since the sun was just about over the yard arm at mid-day. He needed it. The crowd gathered as the cape was wrapped around von Zimner. Photographs were taken with the very latest bellows Kodak Brownies. von Zimner turned to the crowd who applauded. He signaled to the barber to pick up the new power driven clippers in hand. Before the long awaited event could occur the maitre d' raced over with a tall frosted beer, handed it to von Zimner who took a long gulp, returned the glass to the attendant who retired from the scene to another round of applause.
Again it happened as it has so long ago. Taking the electric clippers from the Lascar barber von Zimner examined his image carefully mirror and slowly, purposely began to shear off his own hair, all over his head, right down to the scalp. Red curls peeled away.
Starting from the bottom of his neck, where the cutters had first slipped gouging out a hank of young Carl's carefully tendered hair ten years before and so led him to his first time baldness, now he again ran the mechanical shears up his neck leaving a path of bare skin. Up and over he continued, obliged to be rid once more of the russet fleece. Sides, back and top, von Zimner steadily pushed the whizzing cutting blades into his mop. Carefully, over and over again, the German trader worked the clippers on his head, stripping off his hair and freeing his scalp once more from its constraints. Hair fell away. Baldness became complete.
A sustained round of applause ensued from the audience. Fresh rounds of drinks were served.
Eying the rounded contours of von Zimner's increasingly denuded head, Burke wondered how he could have the fortitude to lose his own hair, especially now, very long and very blond. In spite of himself, Burke could not tear his eyes away, aware that he would have to undergo the same treatment only minutes from now. Inwardly, remotely, he could feel the clippers on his own head while von Zimner was at work. Burke sensed his own hair falling off his head as the trader's did.
"That's better, very much better," declared von Zimner handing the clippers back to Lackshman. He rubbed the clippings off his head with his open hands, obviously enjoying himself in spite of the fact that he really had not wanted to lose his hair this time.
"Well that the old Carl we all know, oh! I mustn't say
love now, must I? Maggie, you still haven't told us when the wedding is?" prompted Ireene.
"A month from today," replied Margarette. "Do you think their hair will grow back in that time?"
"Not a chance. What is it dear? A quarter of an inch in two weeks?" Lady Sanders asked Burke without a reply.
"No Maggie, that would only be a half an inch of stubble. In any case the bet is for six months. And you know what they're like. They'll stick to being bald no matter what. Won't you dear?" She turned once again to Burke.
He pretended not to hear. "Even if we could persuade them otherwise," she continued. "Better to have them shaved smooth, don't you agree?"
Burke shot her a look of daggers as he had decided to let his hair grow back immediately after the shaving, though to the quite short Tropical Trim No2. Rig, only to be reminded of the six months moritorium in The Hairloom Challenge, which he and CvZ had quietly agreed to drop.
Now because of the coming nuptials he would need to have Jahan shave him down daily for another month at least. Still, he considered, it was all part of the adventure, as he had told Reeney, and he might as well accept it in good grace, as he had at last accepted The Hairloom Challenge and his eventual involuntary hairlessness. Nevertheless, he looked fixedly at the now shorn Carl.
von Zimner accepted another large beer. Shaving cream was applied, the razor was plied and the Lascar shaved von Zimner bald once more, removing the last traces of stubble, and leaving von Zimner's dome once more shaved smooth to perfection.
Eying himself in the mirror against the now familiar completely bald image of von Zimner and the hairless wooden bust of himself, Burke wondered if he could go through with it, or even if von Zimner would insist on claiming his bet in The Hairloom Challenge. But it was too late for regrets.
Finished, and pleased with himself, for having won the contest, and having ploughed ahead to be shorn despite solid reservations, von Zimner rose from the barber's chair and wiped a silk handkerchief over his freshly shaved head.
Burke stewed at the old familiar gesture as his defeater knelt before him in his pretend throne.
"My sacrifice is complete your majesty," mocked von Zimner. "I abdicate my throne," indicating the barber's chair, "so you may take possession, and I trust you will grant me yours in return, and the boon that I may carry out my assigned act of chivalry."
Burke tapped von Zimner on the bare head, stood and waved to his 'subjects'. Graciously he stepped down from his throne and assisted his bald rival into it. Regally Burke walked to the barber's chair and deposited himself with all the aplomb he could muster. von Zimner took his place in the throne, but just for a moment, since his assigned act of chivalry was to be Burke's personal shaver.
Friends and rivals in the audience saluted the victim, remembering that several of them were due to follow in Burke's footsteps later on, all part of The Hairloom Challenge. Lady Sanders and Margarette were by now enjoying being consorts of their majestys.

Burke settled, forcing himself to relax and smile. von Zimner let the Lascar barber drape Burke, remove the woggle from his tailed neck hair and comb it our long and loose, while he stropped the razor.
"Which method do you prefer to lose your hair Burke, cobber," von Zimner mimicked Gill's Australian accent. "Would you like it clippered off first then shaved as I chose? Or would you rather the more direct approach - the razor straight onto the scalp removing your hair all at once?" Positive in his question, it was obvious that the German trader would not relent.
Burke was a sport. He knew when he was beaten, actually engineering his own defeat to force von Zimner reluctantly to return to his former hairless self. But the mental preperation was one thing. Now he was about to lose his hair for real, actually lose all of his hair. He had to answer immediately so as not to show any any backsliding.
"No half measures CvZ. The razor! Use the razor. Go ahead, if you'll pardon the expression." they both laughed, Burke more than a little sheepishly.
"Well, I have a surprise for you. Here is a conundrum. How would you like to keep your hair even though you must sacrifice it to The Hairloom Challenge? Are you willing to partake in a little experiment?" teased Carl. Abashed, Burke nodded agreement. He could do no less. Besides he was curious. How could he keep his hair?
von Zimner whipped a cover from a strange item on the bench. To everyones' amazement it was a lifesize bust of Gillbert Burke, amazingly lifelike, carved from satin "monkey" wood. Obviously it had been sculpted by the talanted Balinese wood carved who had recently set up a stall in the town market. Significantly, the statue had been crafted with no hair. It was a bald Burke. The audience applauded. Burke was embarrassed, but could not admit it, and joined in the approbation.
Beside the bust was a brass atomiser sitting above a spirit lamp which had also excited the curiosity of everyone crammed around The Enclosure. It certainly was not the usual crystal atomised which Lucky used for his own The Enclosure Cologne. But Burke thought he knew what it was and wondered what it was doing on the barber's bench.
Lucky carefully placed on a trolly from the restaurant the spray and braiser, a matching brass bowl containing hot water, sitting above its own flambe, together with a selection of combs and brushes, Burke's abandoned woggle, as well as a new expensive looking leather and brassgilt box, and a curious looking large half perspex cone device with a handle. The trolly with accoutrement was wheeled beside the barber's chair where Burke could feel the gentle heat from the brasiers.
"Is that what I think it is CvZ? What's it doing here?" Refering to the heated spray Burke's curiosity could be contained not longer.
"Patience!" was the only reply from von Zimner, placing a small oiled silk cope around Burke's neck over the top of the larger barber's cape. After ruffling Burke's long blond locks the bald German sprayed a very light application from the mysterious brass container well into the hair. With surprising skill he worked a broad toothed comb through Burke's touseled dampened hair, drawing the hair severely flat to resemble the old brushback. With Burke's woggle he fixed the rear hair into its own queue.
From the slight smell of the spray Gill realised what Carl was putting onto his hair, but for the life of him he could not figure why. vonZimner had been working on a secret formula, a development of rubber from his own plantations. The two associates had frequently discussed it, and it had now neared perfection. Basically, it was a highly refined form of latex, so pure to be absolutely colorless, and liquid when heated. von Zimner believed it could be used to spray the exterior of machinery in the tropics to prevent rest and on the covers of books and the like to keep away dampness and mould. As it set it was extremely hard, yet quite flexible, soft and hard, another conundrum.
"Well it's a while since I had a brushback. But I don't suppose that'll last too long," observed Burke. "Or will it?" he continued hopefully.
"We'll all see in good time," teased the German. "What is your prefered style Gillbert? The old severe brushback as we have here or the style invented for you by our master barber Lasksman, the grown out Tropical Trim No.2 Rig with the part and the fringe draped around the forehead?"
"If you are telling me I have a choice, which I find most perculiar under the circumstances, well, I suppose the old brushback is in the past. If I were to have an ordinary haircut just now it would be with the part as Lucky invented, not in the middle, high on the right side I've been trying to use since my last haircut, when you stopped it all. But why?" replied Burke after a moments reflection and not with a little curiosity.
"Das is gute" agreed von Zimner as he began to fashion the still damp hair with surprising skill, position, curved perfectly over the pate high on the right side into the crown and then draping the now long fringe across and around the brow on either side.
Gill was amazed how good it looked, since he had not been able to use any form of fixative for six months. Carl handed Gill the transparent half cone to protect his face and eyes. Taking up the atomiser once again he saturated the hair, and after wetting his hands in the hot water, patted and shaped Burke's hair, eliminating every wrinkle, massaging the pigtail, and working the liquid particularly into the fringe and along the part. Carl continued the routine until the latex set. In a couple of minutes the hair was as smooth as satin.
"Try that mein fruend", Carl told Gillbert. The hunter shrugged his hands from below the cloak and felt his hair. He was amazed. It was set as firmly as a rock, yet he could still feel a slight rubbery flexibility. There was no color change, still broadly streaked with sun bleach, and the hair remained looking quite natural in the mirror, except that now it was a solid cap attached to his head, no more a collection of thousands of separate hairs. Still Burke wondered at the purpose. But he said nothing.
Next von Zimner opened the leather and gilt box to reveal three superb new straight-edge razors of differing shapes; one traditional, one extremely narrow and long, and one curved the shape of a skull. He selected the narrow one and opened it for inspection.
Perhaps thought Burke he was only being teased and would not lose his golden locks after all. Stagily, Burke let out a deep breath. There was a titter from the spectators.
"Carl won't really do it will he Margarette," asked Lady Sanders of her companion.
"Just you watch. Have you ever known when those two let each other off the hook? I don't think!" Margarette nibbled on a canape.
"But Carl's just combed it Maggie. Why would he do that?" wondered Ireene.
"Ready?" asked von Zimner waving the opened cut-throat to the audience like a circus ring-master, to an appreciative round of applause.
"If you must," replied Burke without conviction, trying hard to grin and bear it before his peers, inwardly apprehensive, yet somehow looking forward to the new experience. "You know I can't stop now in front of this mob. Gillbert Burke will never welsh on a bet. You've got me trapped again. Go ahead. Shave me bald. We'll be a matched set at your wedding."
The spectators cheered this time, for the news of von Zimner upcoming nuptials and again the gallery reacted as von Zimner grasped the flashing razor in a most threatening manner and moved it toward Burke forehead.
Again it was a deliberate false start in the cat and mouse game. For once Burke could relate to the wild beasts he captured. von Zimner waved the stiletto once more. Burke gripped the arms of the chair, gratefully concealed by the barber's cloak.
Lacksman moved the trolly even closer to the amateur barber and poured a flask of pure alcohol and vial of The Enclosure Cologne into the hot water. For a few moments von Zimner soaked the narrow razor in the hot water and alcohol leaving it dripping wet.
Without hesitation now, having had his preliminary sport with his victim, von Zimner tilted the shaving tool to it's optimum cutting angle.
Cheers.
Grasping Burke's pigtail gently and firmly sliced into the very base of the hair parting it from the scalp. Warmth and keenness of the blade shocked through Burke, from his brow to his toes as the razor drew onto the adventurer's head. Burke let out his breath. It had started. For six months he had been preparing for this moment and now it was happening. Soon he would be shaven. So he had better enjoy it.
Because of the latex binding no hair fell away. With infinite patience CvZ worked the several razors, soaked in hot solution and gradually worked his way up and under Burke's hair.
There was no apparent difference to the crowd, or to Burke himself, except that he could feel the razor severing his hair at the roots he felt, though actually down to the scalp, and the extraordinary feeling as von Zimner lifted the ever increasing solid mass as he worked under it, right up to neck, now at the crown, and then dropping it back again, to look as though nothing was happening.
All in all it was a fascinating experience for Burke. He knew he was having his head shaved, but there was no visible evidence. From the back Carl moved to the temples.
Again he sliced close to the scalp under the solidified hair, working backwards and forwards above the ears and along the sides. Never did he lift the flexible, yet solid hair away from the scalp far enough for anyone to see bare skin. Burke was now aware that only the top of his head still was attached to his hair. Moving to the part, von Zimner selected the curved razor and began to work it from the part under the thatch on top of the head. As he separated the hair from the scalp, and from the solidified hair on the down side of the part, Lucky sprayed the area to keep the two sections from coming adrift. From back to front, from side to side CvZ slowly worked it, wetting the blade frequently in the alcohol mixture. Through the whole operation Burke could see very little difference, though it was apparant around the sideburns and temples area that the hair was no longer actually attached to the scalp, even if the difference was only a darkened separation line.
He could feel the sickle shaped razor moving over the top of his head and ever closer to the front. The shaver changed blades to the stiletto. And then it happened! The thin blade poked from under his hardened hair out through the front at his brow. A gasp from the onlookers was heard, including one from Burke himself. The cutter moved immediately to the front and continued his ministrations from the fringe straight under and across the forehead.
Though he could not see it. Burke now realised he was bald. His hair had been removed. He had paid the penalty of The Hairloom Challenge. Carl had seated himself on the throne polishing his own shaven scalp with a silk square.
Gill could hardly resist the temptation to see if he could lift his hair off himself. Just as he was about to give into temptation, Carl walked back to his operations area and whipped Burke's hair completely off his head in one piece. There was a stunned silence. Nobody had expected that. It was like some kind of conjuring trick.
"There mein fruend. The wager has been paid. I have shaved your head."
Not only was Burke's hair still in one solid piece, but in an instant he was as bald as a badger, almost. Instinctivly he threw his hands onto his head, not sure whether he was covering is embarrassment, or feeling his naked head. Then he looked at himself in The Enclosure's mirror and saw a completely new image of himself. Hairless!
It was such a shock he was incapable of forming an opinion on the spur of the moment. Just then von Zimner distracted the reverie by placing Burke's severed hair, still in one solid piece, now actually in the form of a well styled naturally looking longish blond wig, onto the carved wooden bust of Burke. Burke had lost his hair, yet he had kept his hair. The conundrum. There was thunderous applause from the assembly, including from Gillbert himself. Carl had surpassed himself, and was to be admired for it.
"Not so fast mein fruend". Still bemused, Burke was about to ease himself from the chair as von Zimber waved him back. "You can hardly call that shaved smooth as we agreed". It was true. Burke still had a shadow of uneven stubble.
Next to stalking a Malay tiger, this was as taut as Burke had been since he did not remember when. He tensed even more as again reached up, feeling the bristle covered dome.
"Looks like it can be half alright after all Reeney," observed tongue-in-cheek Margarette. "At least the best man at the wedding can borrow his own hair, even if the groom is bald."
"Don't be too sure Maggie. You know what these two are like." Ireene cooled herself with a carved sandalwood fan. "What one does, the other has to. Like a couple of kids."
"That looked like a worse ordeal," observed Margarette, "than a perm under a hair dryer here near the Eqautor."
Burke sank back into the chair once more while Lackshman Lucky thoroughly creamed his scalp, disguising for the moment his new hairlessness. Then piece by piece was shaved away by Carl, leaving more and more scalp exposed.
The razor cut it's swathe right down Burke's neck. From the centre of the nape, a bare path appeared, then steadily to each side of centre the entire back of the head lost what little hair was left. Back and sides were bare. All the while Lucky the barber held a hand mirror so that Burke could see the reflection of the operation in the large glass in front of him. It was a strange sight, a sight which he would have to get used to.
Prepared for some form of discomfort, Burke was surprised that there was so little abrasion from the blade. After all, his scalp had never felt the severity of a razor before. Hot water, The Enclosure Lime and Ginger Cologne and alcohol had provided the lubrication, though Burke could hear and feel the hair being scraped away. In a brand new sensation, the breeze from the punka fans blew onto the parts of his head which had already been shaved. He could not resist touching the barren neck, now even smoother than his Neptune Cut and his one and only Tropical Trim. His fingers examined all the shorn areas trying to relate to the shaved surface.
During the process Lucky worked on Burke's removed hair, now wig. Lifting it from the bust he turned it upside down and carefully fitted it into a china basin the same size, protecting the shape. Into the concave hair piece he sprayed more latex over the cut ends, where previously the myriad of hairs had been attached to Gillbert's head. Then onto the still wet solution he smoothed two consecutive layers of silk, smoothing the cloth against the bristles. As the latex solidified, the inside of the wig assumed its own protection and lining of the silk. Lacksman trimmed the protruding parts of the material to fit just under the shape of the hair, gave the whole a firm shake and twist, checking that his and von Zimner's handiwork was secure, and ceremomniously placed the complete wig back onto its own hairless carved head.
Tingles pulsed through Burke's spine as von Zimner relentlessly plied the shaving tool over the crown. The spot seemed more responsive than the rest of his head, and felt as if it were attached to every nerve in his body as the razor slid over the remaining swirl of hair, a sensation which he had not expected.
Now all that was left was a lawn of soap covered blond stubble on the very front of his head like a Siamese prince. von Zimner cheekily handed the razor to Burke while he sipped from his beer. Having refreshed himself with the cooling drink reached again for the razor. Burke held his grip by now accepting his fate, metaphysically aware of the new-tuned atmosphere around his head. He could see as though from another dimension a new person emerging in the mirror. He leaned up once more, ignoring the sniggering of the ensemble, to feel the progressing baldness, the smooth sides in contrast to the wet hairy top. He felt he was in a different world where normality had ceased to exist.
The razor was still in his hand. Would he dare?
Purposely Burke fingered the remaining hair and began to slice the razor through it, shaving the top of his own head: a real surge of adventure as he finished his own baldness, sliding the razor over his own scalp and creating a balded finish.
There was no hair left!
His new hairless image in the mirror slowly merged back to reality with a cheer from the onlookers. Relaxed, he handed the blade back to von Zimner.
"Welcome, mein fruend to the cult of the bald," joked von Zimner, rubbing Burke's skull vigourously, effectivly so super smooth that there was not a trace of hair anywhere where it had been before, not a strand, not a whisker and finishing the job with a generous squirt of The Enclosure Lime and Ginger Cologne, TELAGE. Too late now for regrets, Burke cast a long pragmatic and amused look at his sculptured bust sporting the wig of his own urstwhile long sun bleached hair.
Gillbert Burke was now shaven absolutely and totally!
At last finished, Burke stared fascinated at the baldened image of himself reflected in the mirror, his deliberately hairless dome exposed free to the elements.

Tentatively he touched it all over with his fingertips, and then in an indulgence of new sensation, not caring about those closely watching him, he stroked his open hands over and over his hairless head.
So this was what it was like to be shaved as von Zimner had been for many years. He liked it. He liked it very much, for the time being. Now his scalp was also glistening in the punka-strobed lights; totally shaven; totally smooth; totally bald. Completed, the Lascar barber removed the cape from around the newly shorn Burke.
The audience clapped as he stood up from the barber's chair and smoothed his hands all over his freshly shaved scalp. Amazingly, it suited Gillbert Burke very well, no unsightly bulges, no elephant ears. His was a well rounded, well proportioned bald head. Embarrassment at being shaved certainly would not keep him from his social contacts. Until after the wedding, he decided on the spot, he would be quite content to be shaved completely each day on his front verandah by Jahan, before he let it grow back to a Tropical Trim No.2 Rig.
In his opinion, which mattered most, and everyone elses, unless they were being kind, the Balded Burke was an stylistic success.
Turning to von Zimner he extended his hand. The German trader pretended to flinch back in fear, but they did shake hands, firmly. From a small rice-paper wrapped parcel, von Zimner extracted a fresh silk handkerchief, presenting it to Burke. Taking his cue, Burke wiped the silk all over his naked head. The thrill was amazing. Lifting the bewigged statue from the bench, Carl von Zimner presented it as a gesture of friendship solidarity to Gillbert Burke.
"Of course you know don't you?" queried CvZ.
"Who was my chief rival for the zoos contract? Well, yes Carl. Who else could know my business methods so well?"
"I hate to admit it, but you were just a little smarter donating those crocs. So actually you won The Hairloom Challenge after all."
"But if I had claimed that we would have missed out on all this fun. The Hairloom Challenge will be a legend for years to come" replied Burke with a laugh. And so it was!
"Six months?" questioned the brand new shavee with high good humour. "Bald ... there I've said it," as he overtly carressed his denuded dome, "now I've gone this far I might as well honour the motitorium too. I see what you mean about enjoying being shaved CvZ. But of course I won't hold you to the time condition. After all you've been shaved bald, like me, for years," half conceded Burke.
"One in all in mein fruend. We'll both keep our hair off for six months and then see what happens. I wonder how many of the others will keep the rules. Few I'll bet"
There was a tussle among the audience as the next victim was installed in the chair. Before the day was out, in an orgy of imitation, a large proportion of the custom of the Long Bar would be cropped or shaved bald in payment for wages on The Hairloom Challenge.
Burke and von Zimner looked at each other's bald heads, and anew caressed their naked, freshly shaven scalps with the squares of silk.
CvZ led Gill to the mirror. With devilment in his eye he removed the wig from its resting place and fitted it back onto head from where it had so recently been removed. The bald bewigged trader surveyed it for a moment, pretended regret, peeled with ironic merriement, removed once more his erstwhile hair and put it back carefully on his own image, surveyed his shaved dome from all angles in The Enclosure's ornate wall mirror and Lucky's hand glass, patted the billiard ball smoothness all over again with a certain self sensual admiration and turned back to the audience and the ladies for, he believed, well deserved approval.
The friend and rivals laughed at each other and plopped together onto the throne. The maitre d' ceremoniously placed the Trophy in their laps with the haired carving. Their ladies planted moist lip-sticked kisses on their baldened heads.
The Hairloom Challenge had been met!