Mary Jean and Bernard Bank pulled into the driveway of their rather new two story house upon finishing dinner out for their
15th anniversary. Mary Jean checked her hair in the mirror on the passenger side of their minivan.

"Happy anniversary, Mary Jean." said Bernard, a recently promoted executive with a graying beard.

"Happy anniversary. Thank you for the nice dinner." smiled Mary Jean, a 38 year old housewife and mother of three.

"We pay the babysitter by the hour, honey!" she added as they walked to the door and rang the bell.

The door was answered by the babysitter, a teenager in shorts, a tank top, and her hair in a very recently cut short pixie.

"Hi, Mr. and Mrs. Bank." she exclaimed.

"Hi. How are the kids?" asked Mary Jean.

"In bed." she returned, smiling.

"I like your hair! It's looks cute on you!" smiled Mary Jean.

"Very well, Darla, here is your twenty. I'll take you home." said Bernard as he left with the babysitter.

Mary Jean walked to their room. She unleashed her hair from her bun while she looked in her dresser mirror. She picked a fine
wooden handle brush from her top dresser drawer and brushed her locks.

As her hair fell from her bun, the ends tumbled off her shoulders and down her back to the mid point of her once shapely legs
giving way a little to the factors of age. She reached behind her back and brushed the neatly trimmed ends of her hair before
letting them flow freely again on her legs.

She sat on the bed with her reflection still in view. She felt badly about what her husband had to do earlier in the week,
that is sell his cherished 57 Chevy convertible to pay some overdue bills.

"I hope this promotion ends our money fears." she sighed as she felt her midnight black locks and waited in only her bra and
panties for her husband to return.

Bernard returned and walked into the bedroom. He set his keys on the night stand. He accidentally knocked over a picture
showing his car at a show and his many trophies. Mary Jean stood and ran her fingers through her hair.

"The title came today from the bank for the minivan. That's one less payment we have to worry about." sighed Mary Jean.

"Yeah." sighed Bernard as he returned the picture to it's spot on the night stand.

"I know, honey, it was hard giving up your car." said Mary Jean as she sat next to him on the bed.

"Mary Jean, I spent years working on that car before we were married and another ten keeping it up. It really was a part of
me." said Bernard.

"We'll buy another once we get on our feet again with your new promotion." said Mary Jean.

"It will take a long time to build another car like my old '57." sighed Bernard as Mary Jean got up and walked to her mirror
to brush her hair again.

"So, you seemed to like Darla's new short haircut?" asked Bernard.

"Sure! It goes well with her slender little figure, doesn't it?" asked Mary Jean as she continued to brush her long locks in
the mirror.

"I guess it took a lot of courage to cut off her long hair and try something new." said Bernard.

"She's still to young to worry about things like that. I bet she didn't give cutting her hair much thought at all! She
probably just wanted short hair for her gymnastics class she's starting." said Mary Jean.

"Yeah, you're probably right." he said as he stared at his wife brushing her hair.

A period of silence took over as Mary Jean brushed and Bernard fell into deep thought. Mary Jean noticed his preoccupation.
She turned to him with a comforting look.

"You're thinking about your car, aren't you." she asked.

"You have no idea how hard that was to let that car go to that young man. I hope he takes care of the thing." said Bernard as
his voice trailed to a whisper.

"I know it was hard." smiled Mary Jean as she sat on the bed and tried to comfort her husband.

Bernard took a length of Mary Jean's long black locks in his hand.

"No you don't." sighed Bernard.

"Yes I do." pleaded Mary Jean.

"No you don't. That car never meant anything to you. You only rode with me to shows to appease me. You were never into my
hobby." sighed Bernard as he looked away at his hand holding Mary Jean's hair.

Mary Jean knew he was right. She tolerated his passion over his convertible and the money he spent on it, thinking the money
would be put to better use on their three children.

"Bernard?" asked Mary Jean.

"Do you really know how hard it was to give up that car?" he asked.

Mary Jean didn't answer.

"It would be like me asking you to cut your hair short like Darla." he continued as a wrench of fear shot through her
stomach.

"I couldn't cut my hair! Not after all this time! I've had my hair this long for ten years after it took me five to grow it
from my shoulders after we were married." said Mary Jean as she clutched her hair.

"I saw the look in your eye." smiled Bernard.

"What look?" asked Mary Jean.

"The look you had when I compared me selling my car to you cutting your hair!" exclaimed Bernard.

"They're not the same." said Mary Jean.

"It is the same. You have this thing with your hair. You brush it constantly and do all these things with it. It's your
personal hobby." said Bernard.

"I thought you adored my long hair!" worried Mary Jean.

"I do admire your hair, Mary Jean! It's part of who you are and I never told you to give it up. My car was part part of who I
am and I was known by many because of that car. You are known because of that hair of yours. Selling my car is the same as me
asking you to cut your hair. It's our anniversary! We shouldn't let our financial problems ruin what is left of our evening!"
exclaimed Bernard.

Mary Jean took her fingers around a section of her hair to examine. Bernard looked down. The baby started crying.

"I'll get her." said Mary Jean.

"No, I'll take care of her since you're not dressed." said Bernard as he left Mary Jean alone on the bed.

Mary Jean stood and walked to her mirror as she listened to the baby cry. She looked to the floor, noticing she still had not
taken off her shoes. She looked back to her reflection.

She brought her hair around and in front of her shoulders. She took the brush again in her hand and stroked her hair. She
could hear Bernard in the baby's room.

"Don't cry, sweetie! Daddy is here while Mommy plays with her hair." said Bernard.

Mary Jean dropped her brush.

"I don't know what to do!" stammered Mary Jean to her reflection.

Mary Jean picked up her brush and took her purse to the bed where she could still see herself in the mirror. She opened her
purse and found a pair of blue handle scissors. She took them from her purse and held them in the air. The baby stopped
crying while Mary Jean tortured her mind.

She changed to a kneeling position for a better look into the mirror. Unsatisfied, she returned to a sitting position. Her
hand trembled as she stared at the shears. As she trembled, she dropped the scissors.

She stared in a trance at her reflection. She picked up the scissors once again. She held them to her hair at her shoulders.

"No! I can't do this! I better compose myself before he finds me like this!" she whispered with the scissors near her hair.

"WHOA!!" said Bernard as he came back to the room to find Mary Jean facing him with the scissors in her hand.

"Uh!" stammered Mary Jean.

"Did I see what I just saw? You with scissors in your hair?" he shouted.

"Yes." sighed Mary Jean as she dropped her hand with the scissors to her side.

"Mary Jean Bank, I have a confession." said Bernard.

"Yes?" she choked.

"Mary Jean, secretly I longed for the day you would finally cut your hair. I was secretly hoping that if the time ever came,
I would be a part of it." stammered Bernard.

Mary Jean moved the scissors to her hair again. Bernard felt a rush of emotion seeing his wife is such a submissive position.
She was also overcome with emotion. They both knew it had been years since they felt this way together!

Mary Jean stared into Bernard's eyes.

"Bernard?" She squeaked.

"Yes?" he returned.

"I think I want to cut my hair for you." she choked.

"Oh, Mary Jean! Please do!!!!" shouted Bernard.

Mary Jean placed the scissors in her hair at her shoulder.

"Higher!" shouted Bernard in a fit of emotion.

She moved the scissors in her hair to her jaw.

"No! Go all the way!" said Bernard as he could hardly contain his emotion.

Mary Jean moved the scissors to her hair above her ear.

"THERE! But wait!" exclaimed Bernard as he joined her on the bed and she let her arm drop again to her side.

He took her hair and fanned it neatly behind her on the bed. Finished, he stood in front of her by the dresser.

"I love you, Mary Jean." said Bernard as he looked at his wife with her midnight black hair fanned so neatly on the bed around
her and the scissors in her hand.

"I love you, too, Bernard Bank!" cried Mary Jean as she held the shears.

"Please do me one favor." he said.

"Anything!" she returned.

"Cut your hair slowly. I want this moment to last!" he pleaded.

"I- I- W- will." she stuttered.

Bernard was in a trance staring at his wife in her white underwear and her beautiful black hair fanned so neatly behind her.
Mary Jean closed the scissors on her hair for the first time in almost two decades. Very slowly, as she stared into her
husband's eyes, she cut the first section of her hair about even with her cheekbone. She looked away from Bernard to her lap
as she held a four foot section of her severed midnight black hair. With her eyes almost closed, she started to cry.

"STOP!" shouted Bernard.

"Why? It's too late to stop!" cried Mary Jean.

"May I finish?" he asked.

"Yes, Bernard, I love you!" she cried.

Bernard kneeled behind his wife in her fanned out hair on the bed. He gently took the scissors from her hand. As she clutched
the first severed section in her trembling hand, Bernard slowly cut on the left side of her head where she started.

Mary Jean sat completely still in submission. Bernard gracefully cut her hair very short so her left ear would be completely
visible. Around the back, he cut as high on the nape of the neck as he could. Once he finished, he cut another layer higher
leaving some very short hair at the nape of her neck about two inches higher on the back. He moved to her other side and cut
over her right ear so no hair could cover it.

Mary Jean sat like a statue as Bernard sat in her lap facing her. He took what was left of her hair and moved in her face. He
cut very short bangs high at her hair line.

The only movement she showed was tears streaming down her cheeks. Bernard looked at the bed full of long severed black hair.
He sat next to her with his hand on her slightly chunky mid section.

"Mary Jean, Thank you." said Bernard as he moved his hand from her stomach to her breasts. He gently invited her to lie in her
hair without a sound.

Together, they shared their moment of passion amidst the shorn black locks......

************