Shaving

Hello! I'm sorry that I have been absent for so long, life got busy. But hey, I'm back! My new lit teacher is really into quick writes and such, so a lot of those are going to be making their way up here. Updates will begin more regularly, so yay!

Okay back to the writing. We were given a picture of my lit teacher's children being "shaved" (with a comb) by their father. It was cute and heartwarming, and we had to do a quick write about it. She said any form of writing was okay, so I started to write a paper about how shaving is a symbol of growing up in our society. After not writing enough to hit the required word count, I decided to switch what I was writing about, and this is what resulted. I ended up not finishing in class but having to finish at home. Enjoy!

Shaving

One day my sons walked up to me and asked in unison,

“Daddy, can you teach us how to shave?”

I gave them a peculiar look. Why would boys so young want to shave? I wondered. My boys were twins, and they were both turning 11 the next month. There was not even a hint of peach fuzz on either of their rounded faces. Beyond that, the idea of taking a razor to my sons’ faces scared me. What if I accidentally cut them with the razor? I can’t do this to them, I thought to myself.

“What’s up? Why do you want to shave?” I asked.

“Well, all of the bigger boys said that they shave, and they teased us because we don’t. They called us children and teased us all week,” one of my sons replied. I thought about it, and decided there was a way I could do it without the risk of harming them. I would shave them without a real razor. I would use a comb.

“Well, let’s fix that! I’ll shave you both tomorrow morning,” I replied cheerily.

Sunlight streamed through my blinds and shot into my eyes. I squinted against the light. There was a big flomp as two extra bodies flew onto my bed. They jumped up and down, trying to get me to move.

“We’re shaving today, we’re shaving today!” They both shouted.

“Yes, yes boys, we are shaving today,”

“C’mon Dad, let’s go!” They practically dragged me out of the sheets and straight into my bathroom. I flipped on the light switch and blinked the blurriness out of my eyes. Opening the cabinet, I groped around for my stuff. They practically twitched with excitement as I readied all of the shaving supplies. I pulled out the shaving cream, my razor, and the comb I would be using for them. I lathered up our shaving cream in my bowl, then spread it onto my face first.
“Okay boys, I’m going to shave first to show you how it’s done. Then I will help you two shave. Sound good?” I asked.

“Yup!” They smiled and nodded enthusiastically.

I picked up my straight razor and began to skillfully pull it across my face, with the grain of the hairs. After creating a wake of smooth skin in the shaving cream, I dipped the razor into warm water to clean off the stubble filled cream. My sons looked amazed, as if I were some sort of magician. I continued to shave until I had cleared my entire face of the cream. Turning on the faucet, I washed off my face and gently patted it dry with a towel.

“And that’s how it’s done,” I finished. “It’s your turn now!”

I walked over to them and began to cover their chins in cream, just as I had done on myself. After I finished covering both of them, I walked one of them over to the mirror with me.

“Okay, I’m going to start. You ready?”

He nodded, trying to keep his smile from breaking across his face. I picked up the comb and turned his head gently so that I could get to the side of his face. Using the same motion that I had on myself, I cleared a strip of cream off of his face and then cleaned off the comb. I “shaved” him until I had completely cleared his face. I told him to wash his face off the same way that I had, and he did. He studied his reflection in the mirror, leaning in ever so slightly. He rubbed his cheeks and stepped back. I pulled my other son towards me and repeated the cycle. After washing and drying his face, he rubbed it as if he was checking its smoothness for a hint of missed stubble. He looked closer and nodded, showing his satisfaction.

“So, how was it? Did you enjoy shaving for the first time?” I asked. One of them frowned at his reflection in the mirror.

“It was different, but I don’t understand why the other boys bragged about it so much. It wasn’t that great,” he said.

“Yeah, I don’t see the big deal,” the other agreed.

“Well, now you’ve done it. Don’t let those boys tease you anymore, okay? If they tease you tell me right away,” I ordered.

“Okay, we will,” they chorused. “We’re gonna play outside today.”

“Be careful,” I said. As they ran out of my bathroom, I began to carefully put back the shaving supplies. Suddenly, I felt two sets of arms around my waist.

“Oh and Dad?” they said, “Thank you.” I smiled to myself as they sprinted out of the door once again. She would have loved to be here today. She would have been so proud, I thought to myself. I had been worrying about them since my wife had died, but at that moment I came to a realization. Even without her guiding grace, we could still be a family. Our family would turn out alright.