A Good Worker

Giovanni is a good worker—at church, at his job, in the garden. Week after week, Monday through Friday, then another week until the end of the month, he notices there's something not quite right in his head. It's like he's neglecting something, but he can't figure out what. He washes thoroughly from his toes all the way up to the rest of his body. Now he finally understands what's wrong. When someone corrects him for something he's done wrong, it bothers him—he can't do other people's work without permission, without being asked. And now at last he's realized what he neglects his whole life long: his haircut. He never gets one except on special occasions, when he suddenly feels he needs to trim not just the dead branches but his hair too, which grows too much every month. If he were a woman, he'd wear it long to his shoulders, curling and twisting it when it got past a certain length. He likes his dark, not blonde like it was when he was small. When he goes to the barber once a year, the barber knows how to cut it right, measuring one side and the other, making his head look good and neat. After he dries it, he looks better than usual. He should do it more often. He needs to understand that you don't need a special occasion like a wedding—which he's never had—to clean yourself up and get your life in order. There's love missing, work that never pays well and never stops, but he hopes that in the coming months he'll get his hair cut again. He shouldn't go to a bad barber who ruins everything—the realness and sincerity he has, without holding back. If it happens that a woman wants to know him and finds him special, it's better for everyone if he takes care of himself.