Here it is, as promised! Whoo-hoo! This chappie was...a bit of a...well, you'll see!
Ch.10 Jacob
By now, it was about five-thirty, and nobody had come. The shop had remained empty, save for the employees. Sure, people had passed by, but no one dared to come in. All in all, it was just like one day in Mrs. Lovett's Pie Emporium.
Sweeney sighed. He was bored. So bored, in fact, that he was twirling a razor absentmindedly around his fingers and actually thinking of her.
He remembered how impatient he'd been, and how she'd told him to wait. Actually, if he strained his ears, he could still hear her voice singing to him, crooning to him…
"Well, another day gone," Cody spoke at last. He'd been reading a book (while Jennifer toyed with an odd device called a 'cell phone' in this century) the entire time. "Time to close up."
A shadow passed in front of the store. With a tinkling bell, the door swung open, and a man entered the shop. "Hello?" he called.
The three employees looked up, different expressions on their faces. On Sweeney's, it was still boredom. On Jennifer's, it was an expression that showed she thought the customer was cute. And finally, on Cody's face, was a mixture of shock and joy. He immediately jumped up from the chair he had been sitting in and ran to the man.
"Hullo!" he said. "You here for a shave?"
The man nodded, his long sandy hair tossing a bit.
"Name?"
The man hesitated. "Jacob Snyder," he replied. "And I'm in a bit of a hurry---,"
"Nonsense! Just sit in the chair over there and we'll get started right away!" Cody sent the man to Sweeney's side of the shop. "Your first customer," he winked.
With yet another sigh, Sweeney rose from where he'd been sitting and went over to the chair. The man, Jacob, was sitting in the chair, worry written all over his face. "As I said, I'm in a hurry here---I've a date in thirty minutes, you see," he said to Cody, who laughed.
Sweeney was temporarily reminded of another instance where something like this had happened. With a bit of a smile on his face, he began humming as he lathered up Jacob's face, the lyrics playing in his head.
Pretty women…pretty women…sitting in their window or standing on the stairs…something in them cheers the air…
Jacob heard the humming and raised an eyebrow, clearly impatient.
The song continued to play as Sweeney weighed the razor in his hands. It wasn't the same as his, but it'd do. Still humming, Sweeney swept the razor against the man's exposed skin and shaved it easily.
Cody watched in awe. The man was fast! It'd only been maybe three minutes since the man had entered, and already he was almost done! And it'd taken him a full ten minutes to do a man, he remembered.
After another few seconds, Jacob was done. He reached up to feel his face and was shocked to feel no stubble there, none at all! And now, he had plenty of time to buy a small gift for Evy. He leapt out of his chair and hurriedly said, "Thank you so much!" before rushing out the door, leaving a $10 on the counter.
Both Jennifer and Cody stared after Jacob, obviously startled by his hurry. Sweeney, however, neatly wiped off the razor and put it up.
Cody turned to him. "You were excellent, my friend!" he almost shouted. "A $2 shave in less than five minutes! And he gave us a ten!"
Sweeney frowned, not really caring about the money. More than ever, he just wanted to visit his 'home' again.
Cody noticed the frown and assumed that the older man was just tired. "You can go if you want! It's closing time, anyway. Just be back here tomorrow before noon and I'll be happy!" He smiled.
Sweeney tried to return the smile, but found that he couldn't. Instead, he just left the shop and turned straight towards Fleet Street. "Blowing out their candles or combing out their hair," he sang softly, mentally hearing another, deeper voice singing along.
And that's that! Review please!