The Risk of Infidelity Index by Christopher G. Moore

Author:Christopher G. Moore
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Grove Atlantic
Published: 2007-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

TWENTY-THREE

CALVINO leaned forward on both elbows, as he stared at himself in a small compact mirror perched on top of two books beside his computer keyboard. A towel, tied around his neck, showed the curled debris of hair trimmings, a mixture of brown and gray. He coaxed a strand of hair between his fingers, then slipped the scissors inside along the edge of the strand and cut. Hair fell down onto the towel and bounced over the keyboard.

On the computer screen, flickering with UN blue, was the WHO website page listing the senior investigator’s position. He glanced from the mirror to the WHO logo, featuring a snake coiled around a spike. The job description said the senior investigator would direct investigation. He must be able to recommend corrective action and prepare fraud risk assessments. Bingo, thought Calvino. I can do all of that. As he looked at his hair in the mirror, he worked the blades of the scissors as if warming them.

Calvino had started cutting back on expenses two months ago. Self-barbering was his brainchild. Cutting his hair at his office desk saved on expenses. On the street or at a bar, he’d meet someone he had known for a long time and find them staring, jaw open, at his hair. Or was he imagining things? He was self-conscious the first time he had tied a towel around his neck and pulled the scissors from his drawer. He had waited until Ratana had left the office. Switching on all of the lights, he experimented with the position of the mirror until he had found the right spot on his desk. Trimming a little bit here and there until he had greater confidence that he could cut his own hair. The bitch about self-barbering was the difficulty cutting the hair on the back of the head; it was like shooting a rifle over your shoulder at a moving object you had to squint to see. It would have helped if he had been a contortionist.

A month into the experiment, he gained enough confidence to cut his hair before Ratana had left, and the first time she had walked into his office while he was in the middle of a self-administered haircut, to his great surprise, she took his latest cost-saving enterprise with a matter-of-fact nod. Nothing he did ever surprised her. She accepted his haircutting as if he had always cut his hair himself. There was comfort in a woman who took a man’s strange behavior in stride, as if his actions were perfectly normal and expected.

She asked him to turn around and she examined the back.

“You’ve missed a couple of spots around you neck,” she said.

He strained to find the spots. “I know. I’m still not very good at the back. It’s a haircutting blind spot. It’s like that old nursery rhyme ‘Three Blind Mice.’ Though they’ve probably changed it to ‘Three Vision Challenged Rodents.’”

A small smile crossed her lips.

“Give me the scissors.” She walked around his desk and stood behind his chair.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.