The young man kneels naked on the tile, head bowed  low. She stands over him at his back, scissors held in one hand, a toroiseshell patterned comb in the other. She laughs nervously into his ear as she makes deliberate, slow cuts. A cut quicker than the rest is followed by, "uh... oooh. Oh."

He glances up into the mirror, trying not to seem alarmed. Reflected back he sees only the top of his head and her behind, calm, confident. From her fingers drops a sheaf of fresh-cut hair.

He is transformed, for better or for worse.

"If I were given a match that could burn it all, I would strike it without a second thought."

Darkness and Friendship

Every window a frame, the world outside a picture. In Texas, strip malls and water towers sprung up from the earth like weeds on a patio. Simon and Garfunkel came on the radio and for a minute, just one minute, he was back in his dorm in 2005 with the lights of sirens flashing across the walls.