“Mom, I’m starving.”
“You ate two waffles an hour ago.”
“That was basically yesterday.”
Another barber laughed.
I hadn’t seen him before.
He was younger than Tony, maybe around thirty, with tattoos covering both forearms.
“I can take him,” he said. “Before he starves to death in the lobby.”
I hesitated.
Tony noticed.
“He’s good, Megan,” he said. “That’s Marcus. He’s been helping out here for a few weeks.”
Ethan shrugged.
“Fine.”
So I nodded.
“Okay.”
Marcus settled him into the chair, fastened the cape, and started cutting.
Everything was normal.
For about fifteen minutes.
Ethan talked nonstop.
Soccer.
School.
A boy in his class who had eaten a crayon on a dare.
Marcus joked with him and asked all the usual questions.
I sat nearby answering emails on my phone.
Every few minutes, I glanced up.
Then Marcus began trimming behind Ethan’s left ear.
