Chapter 22 

Life continued to groove on, and our salon became the number one in town. We had morphed from our safe cocoon. Salons throughout Syracuse began popping up, but we were the first—and the best. We had what it took to reign supreme. We were three young hipsters who stole the spotlight to become objects of devotion. We layered a compelling story with our rock star status and scissors, and we continued to cut our way to the future. Everyone else took notice of our courage to be different, while we dared everyone to try and come close. We kept the beat going by delivering haircuts with a knockout punch. Along the way, we discovered the unexpected and celebrated the unforgettable, and with an unlimited amount of adrenaline in our veins, we remained unbeatable.   

We were a team of stars, breaking rules and making new ones, testing our clients’ HQ every time they said, “Give me a cool cut.” We launched the epochal posters we had created months before and plastered them all over town, saturating Syracuse University. It produced a frenzy among students, and everyone wanted one for their dorm room. It caused a stampede into the salon, and tears later turned out to be a historic picture.

When the young hipsters found out the posters weren’t for sale, it didn’t stop them. They grabbed them off telephone poles from inside changing rooms in the boutiques and from every other conceivable place scattered throughout the city.  We developed a web of the most notable students on campus. They admired us and treated us like celebrities. When the Grateful Dead was in town, the drugs for tips went to a new high. I managed to get backstage passes. That’s another story. There was a plethora of drugs. If they were available, the hip clients had them, and we got them.

I didn’t grow up being a drugstore cowboy, but I came to understand what the lyrics to the songs meant.

They still echo in my mind, and I still get by with a little help from my friends.

Another excerpt from Layers the novel.