On the plus side, I didn't leave it on a cliffhanger.
<del>Edit: If anyone is an Amazon member, please follow the link and post a review saying the story is stolen and violates copyright. The thief's stolen story is called The Ancient's Blood by Vince Chestwall. The original is called L.I.F.E. Begins that I posted on Royal Road. He didn't even change the chapter titles. You can click the knight picture and see for yourself (it opens the 7 chapter preview).</del>
“Welcome, Mr. Smith. It's an honor to meet such luscious hair.” The receptionist said as she came over and held a hand out. Nat and I chuckled at her wording and I shook her hand.
“You don't charge people for the wigs, do you?” I asked.
“Heavens, no. They're going through enough in their lives to have to pay for something that lets them have some dignity.” The receptionist said. “We run on donations and the good will of strong supporters.”
“That's great to hear.” I said as Henry came out of a room with a nice camera hanging around his neck and a video camera in his hands. “I have an idea for making a donation of some expensive items and then perhaps having them auctioned off to raise money.”
The receptionist smile threatened to break her face, it was so wide. “You are just full of surprises, Mr. Smith.”
“Okay, I'm ready.” Henry said and put the camera to his eye.
“Thank you very much for making such a huge donation to our cancer treatment patients, Mr. Smith. I'm sure we can get two, perhaps three wigs out of all that hair.”
“I'm glad I could help.” I said and moved my head a little to swish my hair and showed it off to the camera. “It's been getting a little long and it wasn't until a previous patient from here mentioned it to me, that I decided it could be put to better use than a recycle bin when I had it cut.”The receptionist nodded enthusiastically. “Oh, yes. It's definitely going to be used.” She chuckled. “We might even have a few people argue over who gets the first wig.”
“Including you?” I asked, jokingly.
“I've always wanted to try being a brunette.” The receptionist laughed. “Please, come this way and we'll get you situated properly.” She waved towards a door. “We will claim this wonderful hair for the charity and it will make someone else very happy.”
I nodded and we all followed her through the door and down a hallway to a good sized beige room with a barber's chair in the middle of it and a single blue accent wall.
The young woman waiting there to cut my hair gasped when she saw me. “Damon!”
“Hi, Stephanie.” I said and the receptionist looked surprised.
“You know him?” She asked.
“We met last week at the White House during the tour.” Stephanie said and her face went a little red.
“Bethany, too.” I said and the receptionist seemed to relax. “I was actually going to call you after this.”
“You were?” Both Stephanie and the receptionist asked at the same time.
“I have a job proposition for you, assuming you would be interested.” I glanced around. “Are you working here or is it volunteer?”
“Yes.” Stephanie said. “There's a stipend for a token salary that pays the taxes to the government during the week when I'm needed and I also volunteer the rest of my time for charity functions and fund raisers.”
“You might not have the time available for it, if that's the case.” I said.
“It would depend on what the job was.” Stephanie said and the receptionist gave her a searching look. “Mom, I can't consider it fairly if I don't know what it's about.”
The receptionist sighed. “I suppose it wouldn't hurt to at least listen to it.”
“After my hair is dealt with.” I said and both women nodded.
“We can take some nice pictures by the wall there.” The receptionist said and pointed to the blue wall.
The next few minutes were some of the oddest I had ever experienced as I was treated like a model and posed, my hair played with and teased, and I was subjected to a professional photo shoot. Both Nat and Crystal had grinning faces while the receptionist's face was blank and Stephanie's was flushed red. I was sure that she was worried I would reveal that we had done a lot more than meet at the White House, like dinner and going back to the hotel room afterwards.
When the shoot was over, I walked over to the barber chair and Stephanie handed me a book-like catalogue with different hairstyles in it. I handed it to Nat and Crystal, which made them both start giggling as they looked through it.
“Relax.” I whispered to Stephanie. “I won't ever say anything or embarrass you.”
Stephanie looked into my eyes and whatever she saw there, made her relax. “Thanks.”
“I really do have a job offer for you and for Bethany.” I whispered. “An actual job, that is.”
“Really?” Stephanie asked and I nodded.
“This one!” Crystal said.
Nat clamped her mouth shut to stop her laugh. “What do you think, Damon?”
I looked at it and it was a completely bald head. “Hey, even Teddy has hair!”
Crystal and Nat giggled.
“Keep looking.” I said and turned back to Stephanie. “Is it okay to ask who you are now?”
Stephanie took a shallow breath and let it out. “My dad is a senator in congress.”
I raised my eyebrows slightly and then glanced at the receptionist. “Your mother's doing charity work and you're helping.”
Stephanie nodded. “We've been helping out for years, ever since I was old enough to ride the bus on my own.”
“What about the hair cutting thing?” I asked.
“I took a summer beauty course last year and learned a bunch of things.” Stephanie said. “It was fun, so I passed it easily, then I wondered why mom didn't object to me doing it.”
I smiled. “She earned extra points at the charity.”
“You got it.” Stephanie said. “It's good, though. The hair we collect gets re-purposed into great wigs. Mom wouldn't let a cheap wig pass under her nose, so the patients are always happy with the quality and the durability.”
“I'm glad.” I said.
“Okay, I think we have one.” Nat said and handed me the book. “Bottom right.”
I looked at it and it was a nice trim cut, with a bit of a wave on top and short sides. The part was on the side, which was different than I had worn it for most of my life. I showed Stephanie and she looked up at my head, ran her fingers through my hair a few times, then held on as she glanced at the book again to compare how she held my hair with the picture in the book.
“I think it will work.” Stephanie said as she let my head go. “It's going to be a huge alteration, though. Are you ready for it?”
“Let's do this.” I said and sat down on the barber chair and Stephanie put a smock around me to stop the hair from making a mess on my clothes. “The first clipping has to go to Crystal, so make sure it's a nice long chunk.” I said and tapped the spot under my ear. “An inch or so from there should do it.”
“Not a problem.” Stephanie said, her voice happy, because it wasn't hair that wasn't going to impact the main part of the wig. “Crystal? Why don't you come here for a second?” She asked as she used a comb to divide out that section of hair, then held it out to her. “Grip it hard, so you don't lose any.”
Crystal nodded and waited. The buzzer started and Stephanie ran it over the spot on my head. The chunk of hair fell right off and Crystal gasped as the large piece of hair fell away from my head. She held an inch thick piece of my hair, that was well over two feet long, and she stared at it and then at me.
“Now you'll always have a piece of me that's yours and yours alone.” I said and Crystal looked like she was going to cry. “Nat.”
Nat nodded and picked Crystal up and sat her in my lap. I hugged the little girl and let her cry. I knew she had missed me a lot when I had disappeared and I thought that there wasn't anything I could do to make it up to her. I now knew that wasn't true, because Crystal held onto my cut hair like it was trying to get away from her.
“It's okay, sweetie.” I whispered to her and held her for several minutes. When her sobbing eased, I turned her slightly to look at me. “You know I can't promise that I won't leave again.”
Crystal nodded as I wiped at her face with some tissues. “I know.”
“What I can promise is that I will always come back for you.” I said. “Days, weeks, months, or even years could pass and I will always come back for you.”
Crystal looked down at the hair in her hand and looked back at my face. “I love you, Uncle Damon.”
“I love you, too.” I said and kissed her cheek.
Nat took Crystal and held onto her as I was relieved of my massive burden of hair. It took half an hour to get it cut. It was harvested and laid out on a massive tray and kept relatively straight. When Stephanie was done getting the initial amount that would be easy to make into wigs, she gave me a proper haircut to make it look like the picture in the catalogue. That took nearly another half an hour and then she was done.
Stephanie used a small hand held brush broom to gather everything that had dropped on me and put it into a separate tray, with the explanation that it could be used for hairlines and detailed work. They didn't know if they could use it all; but, it was better to take it all, just in case.
“Oh, wow.” Nat said and she and Crystal stared at me.
“You'll need to wash it and maybe add a bit of styling gel the first time.” Stephanie said. “Otherwise, you might not even have to comb it most days.”
“Do I look that different?” I asked.
“Photo shoot!” The receptionist said and I was unceremoniously taken over to the wall and the poses and shots were repeated. “You're lucky that I am a happily married woman.”
“Mom!” Stephanie exclaimed and her face went red.
“I can't help liking a clean cut young man.” The receptionist said.
“He's thirty!” Stephanie said.
“Not so young, then.” The receptionist said with a smile. “Now, what is this job you have to offer my daughter?” She asked me and I explained what Stephanie and Bethany would be doing. “That's actually perfect for her skill set.”
“Mom, at least let me think it over before you accept on my behalf.” Stephanie said with a roll of her eyes.
“Nonsense. Your father always says to take any opportunity when it arises, milk it for all it's worth, then move on.” The receptionist said. “If this corporation wants to hire you and your friend, are you really going to say no?”
“Thanks for ruining my salary negotiation posture.” Stephanie said to her mother and looked at me with an apologetic face. “I guess I'll be accepting the job, sight unseen, and under whatever terms you deem appropriate.”
“I could really abuse that negotiating posture.” I commented and Nat smacked my arm with the back of her hand. “What? It's true. I could.”
“You won't, so stop teasing them.” Nat said.
I smiled. “All right. A standard contract is 65,000 dollars a year plus benefits.”
Both Stephanie and her mother's mouths dropped open in shock.
“I'll have Derek send it over for you to look at and then you'll have to go in to sign it.” I said and waited for a minute for them to recover a little. “We should discuss my idea for the item donation and who I'll be setting the auction up with for fundraising.”
“Yes!” The receptionist said. “Please, come to the office and we can work on that right now!”
Nat held in her laugh as we followed the receptionist and Stephanie to a large office and I told them about my commission contract with Cherise at the jewellery store.
“I'm having a bracelet made there.” The receptionist said. “Stephanie recommended it.”
Stephanie reached up to her neck and pulled on the chain. Out popped the half pendant with the diamond on it and she smiled. “Mom asked me where I got this.”
“It's wonderful work and I had to have something for myself.” The receptionist said. “It'll be done next week. They are very busy, apparently.”
“They hired two new gem cutters, too.” I said. “Cherise said she has no problem with setting things up and working with you... I guess the both of you... to get things arranged.”
“That would be lovely.” The receptionist said. “When would we get to see the items? We will need to start the advertising campaign as soon as possible.”
“It'll be a few gems like this.” I said and pretended to reach into my jeans pocket and took out a two inch wide round cut diamond.
“OH!” The receptionist and Stephanie gasped at the same time.
“Amethyst, ruby, garnet, and sapphires, along with a few unique jewellery pieces with similar stones already mounted. Solid gold, of course.”
“This is going to be the best fundraiser ever.” Stephanie whispered.
I let them stare at the diamond for several minutes and slowly reached for it. Their eyes followed it all the way across the desk and back to my pocket as I tucked it away. I stood up and Nat shook her head at me with a smile on her face.
“It was nice meeting you.” I said to Stephanie and her mom, then Nat, Crystal, and I left the office.
“You shocked those poor women.” Nat said when we left the building.
“Not as shocked as they are going to be when they check Henry's camera and video recorder.” I said.
Nat gasped and looked at me with wide eyes. “You didn't!”
“Let's go buy that laptop and a memory card reader.” I said as we climbed into the back seat of the car.
“Damon, you...”
“I'll give them back after we copy the contents.” I said and she sighed. “I only wanted them so that Crystal wouldn't have to wait too long before she can search through a few more pictures for a certain furry friend.”
“Teddy!” Crystal exclaimed. “I didn't see him!”
“He's a real sneak, isn't he?” I asked and put my arm around her little shoulders. “He seems to find his way everywhere.”
Crystal beamed a smile up at me and Nat gave me a disbelieving look.
“Driver, the closest electronics store, please.” I said.
“Yes, sir.” The driver said and pulled away from the curb.
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