It was Saturday morning. Kent could tell that it was going to be a long wait...there were only two seats left in the barber shop, and only two barbers working today. He figured that he might as well wait - he didn't have any great plans...was between photo shoots...and he really needed a haircut...so an hour, even two, would be o.k. About five minutes later the door opened, and a young guy walked in - looked to be in his 'teens - maybe early 20's...good lookin'... dressed in gym shorts and a tank...obviously worked out with weights. He looked around and took the only available seat - next to Kent. Kent looked up from his magazine when the kid sat down.

"Hey..."

"Looks like there's a long wait...you been here long?"

"Nah...only about five minutes, but it might be over an hour before they get through all the guys ahead of us."

"That's o.k. - I don't have anything special to do until this afternoon anyway."

"My name's Kent - I usually come to this shop, but don't remember ever seeing you here before...of course, I'm not here 24/7!"

"My name's Mike - my friends call me Mickey. I just moved here from Chicago - will graduate from High School in about a month...I'll turn 18 just before I do...next week, in fact! How about you?"

"Well, I've lived here for a bunch of years...I'm exactly twice your age, and I graduated from High School probably about the time you were born!"

"Cool - I thought you might be about 25...you sure don't look twice as old as me...did you graduate from anywhere else after that?"

"Yeah - college, four years later."

"What did you go to college for?"

"I studied Art..."

"Are you an artist?"

"Nope - a photographer."

"That's cool...what do you photograph?"

"Well, I do magazine lay-outs - fashion shoots...photographic illustrations...stuff like that...and I take a lot for my personal portfolio."

"Are some of your pictures in these magazines?" he asked, motioning to the rack in the shop.

"Well, probably not...my pictures are mostly in magazines that are only sold by subscription or specialty stores. I'm always looking for good photographic subjects...ever done any modeling?"

"Nah - I don't think I'm that good looking! I like to work out and I try to look o.k. - but I probably wouldn't be a good model."

"You should probably let someone from behind the camera decide that... you might really be surprised! Here's my card...if you're interested, give me a call and we can shoot a roll or two to see how you look on film."

The three guys ahead of Kent in the line wanted to wait for the other barber, so he got called way ahead of when he thought he would.

"Give me a call if you want...if I can use you I'll pay you $10. an hour...a couple hours three times a week after school would give you some spending money...and we could work out some summer hours if your interested."

"Thanks...I just might call - I could use some extra bucks..."

Wednesday afternoon Kent's business phone rang. He didn't recognize the Caller ID number.