Max and Jake heard Sam’s offer for a haircut and checked the clocks on their phones. 4:15PM. Max and Jake looked at each other and then back at Sam and Sarge.
“Sarge, I think we’ll have to pass on the haircut.” Jake explained. “Best if we head home.”
Sarge understood and didn’t impose his will on them. “Ok then, Max and Jake, I hope to see you soon; Sam, I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Sure thing, Sarge.”, Sam replied, “See you tomorrow.”
Sam, Max, and Jake left Sarge’s shop together.
Sarge was in the shop alone. He was pleased that his first day of business had netted him three recruits. He began cleaning the floor, moreso to pass the time and to get things ordered to close up shop. He started at the entrance of the shop and work this way around the cutting stations and was just making it to the door to the back area when he looked at the clock. 4:30 it read.
Sarge began to ponder about closing early for the first day. He was about to step into the back when he saw a car pulling up in the space in front of the shop. A black Acura SUV made its way through parallel parking to occupy the space. Once parked, the passenger door opened and the driver set out. Sarge took notice the potential customer as he walked around the front of the vehicle and made his way to the entrance of the shop. Standing 6 foot 4, wearing a white polo shirt, the SUV owner took stock of Sarge’s barbershop.
“Call me lucky to catch you before you close up.”, the customer began. “And to come and get your opening day special.”
“Just let me put this in the back and I'll be ready to take you in the chair.”, Sarge replied back.
Sarge stepped into the back room, dropped the mop in the corner, and went back into the shop and to the chair where the customer was now seated. He reached down, grabbed the cape, and fastened it around the customer’s neck.
“What can I do you for, sir?’, Sarge asked.
“Just clean it up for me; been on vacation and gotta have it clean before I go on duty.”
The words “on duty” piqued Sarge’s ears. Seems I’ve got a cop here, he thought.
“So, you want me to clean it up with clippers or scissors?”, Sarge inquired.
“Whichever way you feel comfortable with.”, the customer replied.
“OK, sir.” With that sarge reached over to his station, pulled out a comb, and began to run it through the customer's blond hair. The hair hadn’t grown too long, but it definitely was long enough to put it out of regulation length. with that in mind, Sarge decided to go with comb and scissors over clippers. He reached back over to the station and grabbed a spritzing bottle; he sprayed a light mist onto the hair and began to work the comb through it. Working each section, he pulled hair up, held it in place with the comb, and trimmed the right amount of length off the ends.
The customer seemed pleased to hear the clipping of the scissors. “They don’t use scissors in the military. Or has that changed?”, he asked.
“Nope, still clippers to give recruits buzz cuts; that's the way it was, it is, and will be.”
“Learn to cut hair in the army or once you get out?”, the customer asked as he closed his eyes.
Sarge decided to return the misidentification. “Marine Gunnery Sergeant here, but I took up hair after I was discharged…trooper.”
“I deserved that for putting you in the wrong branch. Let’s get on the right foot. I’m Officer Jerry Turner.”
“Gunnery Sergeant William Keegan.” Sarge continued combing and trimming Turner’s hair. “So how is life for you these days, officer?” Sarge posed to the question to see what kind of cop was sitting in his chair. If he was a good cop, he’d just cut his hair and let him get back to his life; if things went the other way, Sarge would make adjustments as he saw fit.
“Around here things are going ok, but you see what’s going on out there for cops, don’t you?”
“I won’t comment on the general state of things,” Sarge began, “But I will comment on the thing that relates to my old life. Cops are getting military gear and when you get that gear but don’t get the training or the code of conduct, things can and will go wrong. It can go wrong even when you have the training, so it’s only logical that it could go wrong when you don’t.”
“So, you saying we cops don’t deserve to have the equipment to keep rioters and looters at bay?”
“I’ll put it another way: anyone can buy a katana nowadays, having one doesn’t make you a samurai.”
Sarge had a feeling Turner was bad from the conversation, but now he had to find out how bad a cop he had in his chair.
“I’m almost done cleaning everything up, Officer Turner, and since I’m almost done, feel free to tell me the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth about yourself, Officer.”
Sarge began to push onto Turner as he commanded Turner to tell the truth; Turner felt the push hit him and tried to fight against the compulsion. But the harder he fought against Sarge’s push, the more the push worked its way into the parts of Turner’s mind until he gave in and his body relaxed, letting Sarge now he was ready.
“Now, Officer Turner, have you broken any laws while on duty?”
“Yes, sir”, Turner replied in a monotone voice.
“Well, tell me about them as I finish your cut up.”
Turner began to relay his misdeeds; he had no shootings, but a long history of unlawful stops and searches along with excessive force violations, so long that Sarge stopped him midway through when his cut was finished.
“Well, Officer Turner, your hair is up to code, but you yourself are not. I’ll have to do something about that.”
Sarge put the comb back in its place on the station; he walked back to the barber chair, pulled the lever, and leaned Turner back. Turner remained in his mind-controlled stupor until Sarge clamped his right hand down on Turner’s left shoulder like a pair of vice grip pliers on full clamp. The pain shot through the shoulder muscles and woke Turner up. He tried to get up out of the chair but couldn’t feel his body from the neck down. He tilted his head back, trying to locate the man who did this to him. Sarge, for his part, walked over to the front door, flipped the sign from open to closed, locked the front door, and pulled the shutters on the door and windows down. With no one able to see what he was about do, Sarge began to return to his now helpless cop.
“What did you do to me?”, Officer Turner asked of Sarge, struggling to keep Sarge in his line of sight.
“I paralyzed you so I could close up shop. Now I intend to finish what I started.”
“What are you going to do to me?”
“Remember what I said about the katana and the samurai; well, it’s true of police officers. You can put the uniform on a person, but that doesn’t necessarily make them a police officer. And you, Jerry Turner, don’t have the traits and character of a police officer. But I’m going to work on you and impart on you those traits and character attributes.”
“How are you….”
Before Turner could finish his questions, Sarge had placed his hands on both shoulders. Turner suddenly felt the collar of his polo shirt moving, changing for lying down to standing up, and moving to encircle his neck. The two sides of the collar met at the front of his neck, then the collar began to get tighter and tighter, constricting like a python around his neck. Sarge could see the tension on Turner’s face as the collar constricted his neck and made it harder for him to breathe.
“Would you like me to stop, Officer Turner?”
Turner nodded his head up and down as little as he could to indicate yes.
“Ok, I’ll make the collar fit you perfectly; when it does, you’ll feel a sense of pleasure come over you. When you feel that sensation, you’ll want the rest of your clothes to feel like that. When you show that, the transformation will begin. Do you understand, Officer Turner?”
Turner again nodded his head up and down.
Sarge began his transformation. The collar slid away from Turner’s neck, leaving a portion of it exposed as it loosened and sat perfectly around his neck. Turner felt the comfort that came with the new formation of the collar and let out an exhale of pleasure. “Please continue, Sarge.”, he whispered as he inhaled.
“As you wish, Officer.”, Sarge whispered into Turner’s ear.
Sarge continued to transform the polo shirt. First, the whiteness of the shirt change, growing greyer and greyer until it became black. The fabric changed from cotton to wool, epaulets formed on the shoulders, pockets emerged over the chest, and five silver buttons emerged from buttonholes. His hands slowly were covered in leather that moved and shaped into gauntlet gloves.
“Keep going, Sarge; keep going!!”, Turner exhaled out with pleasure.
“As you wish, Officer.”
The pants became black and woolen; as they did, Sarge could see the tenting going on in Turner’s crotch region. Keep enjoying it, Officer Turner. Sarge came to the footwear; normally, police officers in dress uniforms wore black dress oxfords, but the uniform Sarge was making demanded a pair of boots. He thought of the bal-laced boots that he had seen at a few ceremonies where he had engaged with police, but for this officer and his transformation, he wanted them to be full dress boots with no laces. And with that, the leather began to appear and form around his feet, ankles, and calves until the dress boot was complete.
Turner sat in the barber chair, reveling the pleasure that the new uniform gave him. He wanted to see what he looked like in the uniform, but the pleasure he felt was so intoxicating. Sarge knew Turner could live in the pleasure, but there were still some tweaks to be made before he could send Turner out into the world. He raised the chair back to the seated position and put Turner in a more relaxed frame of mind.
“Now, Officer Turner, feel free to get up and take a look at yourself in the mirror.”, Sarge suggested.
Turner calmly pulled himself out of the chair, took a step forward and turned around to face the mirror. He couldn’t see the entire uniform, just the upper half. Turner saw his blond hair groomed with a part on the right side, the high collar of the black tunic jacket which flowed down to the gauntlet gloves. The uniform demanded respect and Turner stood at attention. Sarge saw no traces of the arrogance that Turner had when he came in; he simply needed to finish his reconditioning of Officer Turner.
“Come in the back, Officer; I have a mirror you can see your full uniform.”
“Sir!” Sarge smirked that Turner replied in that way.
Sarge led Turner into the back room and had him stand near the cabinet; he closed the door revealing a long mirror attached to the back of the door. In it, Turner could see the entire uniform, the black tunic jacket, black pants that were tucked into the black leather dress boots. Turner again took the attention pose as he saw his entire uniform.
Sarge began with the next part of Turner’s reconditioning. “Who are you?”, Sarge asked, pushing Turner to respond.
“Officer Jerry Turner, working out of the 74th Street Division.”
“And what are you wearing, Officer Turner?”
“A dress uniform.”
“Not just a dress uniform; what you’re wearing is an honor guard uniform. It symbolizes the professionalism of the police department. Wearing one of those uniforms means you represent the best of what it is to be a police officer. With that uniform on, there can't be any more unnecessary stops, illegal searches and seizures, harassing and terrorizing the citizenry. You have to be the best of the police force; demonstrate respect for your fellow officers and for the public in general. Wearing that uniform means you have pride, integrity, and honor as a police officer.”
Sarge pushed the things he wanted to get into Turner as hard as he could: the professionalism, pride, integrity, and honor of being a police officer. He pushed them during the speech and after he had finished speaking. He let Turner stand for a while, marinading in the pushed attributes, before he confirmed that Turner had learned what Sarge wanted him to learn.
“So, officer, let's try this again. Who are you?”
“Officer Jerry Turner from the 74th St. Division.”
“And what are you wearing, Officer Turner?”
“A police honor guard uniform.”
“Why are you wearing it, Officer Turner?”
“Because I represent the professionalism of a police officer when I wear it. I wear it because I have pride in being a police officer. I wear it because I have the integrity and honor that comes with this uniform.”
"Very good, Officer Turner.” Sarge saw his pushes had work and Officer Turner was ready to leave the shop as an honor guardsman. “Now that you understand what you're wearing and you're committed to its values, let's make this official.”
Sarge walked past Officer Turner into a closet adjacent to the door; opening it, he pulled out an assortment of items: a trucker cap, two leather belts far shorter than Turner’s waist, and a couple of plastic bags. He put the trucker cap on Turner’s head and began to expand it until it fit Turner’s head; it then morphed from a trucker cap to a police cap that matched the uniform. Sarge turned the cap braid from black to silver; once he finished that, the trim of the uniform collar suddenly became silver and the silver ran down the middle of the jacket, then spread around the bottom of the jacket. The silver then ran down the out seams of the pants as a trim. Sarge then grabbed the brown belt; he morphed its color from brown to black, increased its thickness, and expanded the buckle while increasing its silver shine. He also made the holster for the service weapon and leather pouches for clips. The final product went around Turner’s waist perfectly with the buckle sitting right above the trim which was at dead center. The second belt Sarge morphed into the black shoulder strap and fastened across Turner’s left shoulder. With that, Sarge finished outfitting Turner.
Sarge next took the two plastic bags and morphed one into a garment bag able to carry the uniform, hat, and belts, the other morphed into a bag for carrying the boots. He opened one of the pockets to reveal a boot jack. “This will help you get the boots off.”, Sarge explained. “Take the uniform off and put it in these bags; I’ll get your clothes ready.” Turner began to unbutton his uniform jacket while Sarge return to the closet and morphed a random shirt, pants, and shoes into the polo shirt, tan khakis, and brown boat shoes he came into the shop wearing. Sarge helped Turner take off the dress boots by putting his foot on the end of the boot jack, allowing Turner to put each boot in and pull the foot out of them. Turner had no other problems taking off the uniform and putting it away. He got dressed in the clothes he wore when he came in.
“So, Officer Turner, I’m sure you know a few cops in your division that could use a haircut in my chair.”
“I know about six or seven that could; when should I bring them your way?”
“Let say any Saturday will work; come around 1, which is closing time.”
“Understood, Sarge.”
Turner reached into his pocket, pulled out his wallet, took out a twenty-dollar bill, and handed it to Sarge. Sarge began to head to his cash box when he heard Turner say, “Keep the change. Consider it a down payment for the services you’ll provide for the station.”
Sarge smiled at Turner’s suggestion and put the bill in the till of the cash box. “You should look into joining the honor guard. If you need more uniforms or if you should encounter any problems with the existing guard, just send them my way.”
“I’ll do that, Sarge.”, Turner replied as he nodded.
Sarge walked Officer Turner to the front door and opened it for him; Turner walked through, pulled his keys from his pocket after setting his bag down, and unlocked the car. He set his new uniform in the back seat. “I think I’ll call you before I bring the other officers through.”, Turner informed Sarge. “That seems the proper thing to do.”
“You do that, Officer Turner. I look forward to cutting your colleagues’ hair.”
With that, Officer Jerry Turner got into his SUV and drove off. Sarge walked back into the shop and locked the front door. He still had to clean up the shop before he could head home, but he stood a bit looking over the shop. His first day of business done and he already had some repeat business and future clients on the horizon. He couldn’t have asked for a better opening.
Choose what happens next:
Officer Turner brings one cop to Sarge
Officer Turner brings two cops to Sarge
Officer Turner brings three cops to Sarge
Officer Turner brings some perps to Sarge