Faces in Coffins

Sunshine interrupting steady light chilled rain

drew the blue cloaked barbers out to the side walk.

There were no customers until I arrived.

I guessed they felt uncomfortable being outside

now that someone had arrived as if they were caught

doing something they were not supposed to be doing.

By the time I parked and got to the front door they

were all back inside milling about their chairs.

I picked the one who made the most direct eye

contact and sat in his chair.  He was Russian.

I don’t need a favorite barber anymore because

i don’t have a favorite style anymore- I just get my head shaved

and assume that any barber can do that and it will always look

the same – I’m correct about that.

It was about 3 pm on a  Friday afternoon where everything

at my work and in town and just the world at large seemed

to have slowed to an eerie quiet. I liked it .

The great recession of 2008-2009 is certainly

slowing down the pace of human activity- once again-

i sort of like it –in a strange way – as I believed that

life was just moving too fast and needed a tranquilizer.

I gave him the word -shave all around, natural back

trim the mustache and eye brows and don’t think I’m rude

if I fall asleep.

I wasn't’t quite sure if he got the sleep part.

He was studying me.

I was watching the TV.

He had bad teeth and breath

bad skin; oily unkempt hair- for a barber.

Sun came out, this was nice – he said

but it’s going to rain all weekend.

I don’t like pessimistic weekend meteorologists who

watch too much weather channel.

Don’t worry- it’s only weather and the sun will come out -

You'll  see – I assured him- and besides rainy weekends will be

good for your business and the economy.

How so?

People don’t go shopping or get hair cuts on beautiful

sunny days – they buy things when it rains.

  I continued , Perhaps it's a government conspiracy to make it rain so that  Americans will go out and spend money...isn't this what they want, anyway?

Government Conspiracy ( those words altered the conversation )

We get many college professors and students here from the university but -

when they talk I don’t understand them they talk in funny ways with big ideas

And I don’t understand.

Abstract, I said .

 Yes, you I understand.

What do you do?  I can always tell from the face what a person does?

So why do you have to ask me? Just look at my face and tell

me what I do?

He still could not peg me –it was disturbing him so I finally

gave in.

I’m a businessman.

I knew it – I could tell you are businessman.

My father was business man in Russia .

Where are you from in Russia ?

Russia very big country, you would not know this place,

small town near Afghanistan Pakistan Border.

He gave me the name and was right  - I never heard of it.

Did you ever go to Afghanistan ? I asked .

He shook his head like I had  asked him if he had

ever visited another planet in the solar system.

Almost !

Why almost ?

The army almost sent me there when I was young.

Most of my friends went there and they were killed or

came back crazy in the head or, how do you say... you know-

and he pointed to his inner forearm and made an injection gesture-

Drug addicts ?

Yes drug addicts- heroin- too much poppy there.

Some became smugglers bringing

heroin back from the war, in coffins-

stolen money too.

This was sounding all too familiar to me.

Russia's Vietnam ,they used to call it ,and we

followed France into Vietnam and ..... 

So you didn't go to the war?

No but I had a horrible job in army.

I didn't’t ask… too many horrible war stories lately; I’m reading...

And now the barber... he didn't’t get the sleep part.

My job was to take the dead bodies off the plane.

Everyday, some days 10-20, some days hundreds.

In Russia , the coffins have a window so you can see the face

of the dead soldier- so every day I saw these faces, unless the body was -

in too many pieces... then no window.

We had to keep the body count secret from the people or the KJB

would send us to front line or just put us in coffin right there-

So I could not tell. This was very big secret in Russia .

I was in army towards the end of Afghan war and my friends and soldiers were sending back letters telling how very bad it was there. If you had friend in Russian government and they knew you were going to go they had ways to, you know, tare up letter to make you not go or change your number because now everybody knew that if young men went to Afghanistan they would not come home.

I see these coffins all the time in dreams almost every night.

Wars are making me tired inside my soul.

As he trimmed my mustache I held my breath because the

nicotine smell on his fingers was so strong I was afraid I would gag.

Earlier, I had wished a nice weekend for myself; rain or shine –

 - but now I see those faces too.