"Come on, old boy," puffed Peter as he guided Archie up the steps into Tilly's barber shop.

"I'm sorry, sir, we don’t allow dogs in here. There is a sign on the window."

"It's alright, Ian," said Tilly. "We make an exception for Peter and Archie."

"He won't be any trouble," said Peter, gratefully lowering himself into a chair to await his turn for a haircut.
Archie, a small but aged Westie snuggled under the chair close to his master's legs.

"I'm not too sure," complained Ian, a newcomer to Tilly's hairdressing salon. "They’re not only unhygienic they’re also disruptive. Lots of people are frightened of them," he added with a sour glance at Archie.


Archie responded by lazily staring at Ian with one opened eye.

Tilly gently took Ian into the corner of the salon away from the customers, "I know we are not keen on dogs in the shop," she said, "but it’s not against the law and Archie really is different. He won’t move, you'll see - he's Peter's only company and they always travel as a pair."

"If you say so," replied Ian stubbornly. "You’re the boss."

"Yes I am," said Tilly firmly as she turned to return to her customer.

Determined to have the last word, Ian commented in a stage whisper: "I’ve got young Brady in ten minutes and if that mutt is still there, who knows what chaos we'll have."

Ian was referring to a young autistic boy, Brady, who could only communicate by sign language and who was very easily upset if he came into a situation that he didn’t understand. Brady was one of the customers that Ian had brought with him from his previous job - Ian was justifiably proud of his ability to keep Brady calm during the hair cutting session but Tilly felt that today he might take advantage of Brady's disability to score points at Archie's expense. The monthly haircut was always pure torment for both Brady and his mother.

Tilly told herself that if Brady objected to Archie, she would have to ask Peter to take him outside. She didn’t relish that idea at all - "that's what being the boss is all about," she told herself ruefully. "Let's wait and see, Ian. Brady may not worry about Archie."

When Brady and his mother entered the salon, Brady appeared calm but wary - Tilly breathed a sigh of relief. Both Tilly and Ian welcomed him by signing. Ian lifted the boy carefully onto the child seat fitted to the barbers' chair. "There we are," he signed to Brady. "Ready?"
Gripping both arms of the chair tight, Brady gritted his teeth and nodded - he knew what was coming.
With half an eye on the still recumbent Archie, Ian started pumping the pedal with his foot to raise the chair up to a comfortable working position. Suddenly his foot slipped from the bar and became wedged forcing the pedal to rapidly drop the chair to its lowest level. Brady yelled in surprise and fear at the sudden drop and let go with one hand; he fell forward banging his head on the shelf in front of the chair.
Whilst Ian, now on all fours, fought to remove his foot from the pedal, Tilly and Brady's mother jumped forward to rescue the little boy. Brady's mother removed her now screaming son from the tangle of towels rapidly winding their selves around his twisting and squirming body, and recovered him into a chair proffered by Tilly. Tears flowed as Brady, now shaking with fear, violently waved his arms and legs about, his poor mother being the recipient of many of the blows.

"Keep the dog away. Watch the dog," shouted a now embarrassed Ian from his position of sitting, looking ridiculous, on the floor amidst a heap of many coloured hair cuttings.
Archie ignored him as he raised himself from his position beneath Peter's chair and slowly, his aged legs creaking as he stretched, and purposefully padded across the floor to stand beside Brady and his mum. Despite Ian's worries and Brady's screams, the dog looked up at the little boy and, raising a foreleg, he gently laid his paw onto Brady's leg. Brady, showing no fear and, with just a few more stifled sobs, stopped screaming and reached down to the dog. Archie licked his hand.

"Well I’m blowed," said Tilly's customer from his chair.

"Thank, you," said Brady's mother to Peter.

"Yes, thank you, Archie," said Tilly.

"He's a hospital visiting dog," said Peter matter-of- factly. "That's where we’re off to when I’ve had my haircut. He likes children."

[THE END]

© scrapyardsummer 2019