Barber Lounge, Sylvania

Jonathan, the owner, came into the doorway. He wore a form-fitting, royal blue blazer with a crisp shirt and light-colored slacks. He was a tall guy. Impeccable shoes. He was pressing his cellphone against his shoulder. 

"Hey Jo, I'm ordering from next door. You want anything?" Jonathan asked. 

'Next door' referred to J and G's Pizza Palace. 

"If you order pizza, I might have a slice," I said. 

"Ok, cool. What about you, Kevin?"

Kevin switched the electric razor off, thought for a second, then said, "Are you getting gyros?"

"Whatever you want, man, sure," Jonathan said. 

I took a sip of bourbon from my glass. 

"Ok, I'll have a gyro," Kevin replied. Then he switched the razor on, and began trimming my sideburns. Kevin was wearing a charcoal suit with a black button-up shirt and glossy, cognac double-monks. He was cutting hair all day, but never seemed to get messy. 

I sat in the barber chair at Barber Lounge, V Collection, in Sylvania, looking out the window at Main Street. "Kevin, you ever been to Element 112, across the street?" I asked. 

"Yes. It's nice, man. That's a place where you can go, relax, have a drink. A really nice atmosphere," he said. He was putting the finishing touches on my neck. 

He continued, "Matter-of-fact, I'm supposed to drop-by there, later tonight. You should check it out."

"I'll do that," I said. 

After a minute, he said, "Alright, Jo, I got you all cleaned up." I thanked him, then I grabbed my glass and headed over to the other room to look at Jonathan's clothing collection. 

Jonathan was behind the bar, opening pizza boxes and setting out plates. I was looking at a white blazer by Scotch and Soda when I asked Jonathan, "Where do you get your merchandise?"

"Mostly Europe. I just came back from Italy, looking for new stuff," he said. 

"It's really nice stuff," I said. 

"Thanks. You want me to refill your glass?"

Jonathan took my glass, lifted the bottle of Elmer T. Lee and poured. I pulled a quilted jacket off-of the rack and tried it on. 

We ate pizza and talked about sports and cars and whiskey. I sat at the bar with Kevin and another customer who was early for a haircut. 

The pizza was a thin crust with pepperoni and peppers. It had the sweeter, Sicilian flavor of a lot of places around these parts. It was good. The gyro was good too. Shaved meat, veggies, tzatziki sauce. It reminded me of the gyros served at Laikon, or Hellas, or Golden Fleece--all Greektown, Detroit establishments, some of them closed-down long ago. But today, the food was a really nice treat, eaten with some nice people. It hit the spot. 

Kevin said, "Want to schedule your shape-up for a couple weeks from now?"

I said, "Yes, please." He did it. Then I thanked the guys for everything and stepped outside into the sunshine, feeling fresh and clean and fortunate.