title: Haircut and Other Stories
author:  Ring Lardner 
description: Ring Lardner first burst upon the literary scene with his greatest popular success, "You Know Me Al". A sportswriter by trade, Lardner had a superb ear for regional peculiarities in speech and was loved for his sense of humor. Funny, sarcastic, sometimes bitter but always ironic, Lardner understood Americans-- their desires, their dreams, and their disappointments. Contained in "Haircut and Other Stories" are some of Lardner's best-known pieces: "Haircut", "Alibi Ike", "The Love Nest", "Zone of Quiet", and "Champion". Through these pages pass con men; an opinionated small-town barber; a nurse who chatters on and on, much to the chagrin of her charges; baseball players who have excuses for everything; and boxers who try to make it in the fight game. Published in "The Saturday Evening Post", "Collier's" and "Vanity Fair", Lardner enjoyed great success and was heralded as a singular talent by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, H. L. Mencken, and Virginia Woolf. "Haircut and Other Stories" is a celebration of people and of America, and is a must for anyone interested in classic American fiction.
zlib_text: 
  
  
  12
  
  
  The bald man was punching digits into his phone. As I approached, I sized him
  up. He was a few years younger than me, and taller and bigger. He had a low,
  sloping forehead and deep-set eyes. As I came closer, I saw that his head was
  shaven to cover up the fact that he’d gone bald on top, typical male-pattern
  baldness. He looked like someone who worked out a lot in a gym. He also looked
  uncomfortable in his navy suit, like he didn’t wear suits very often.
  
  He looked up and saw me and stopped dialing. His ears, I noticed, were
  cauliflowered. He was a boxer. It took a beat or two for him to recognize me
  as the guy who’d been sitting with Kayla. I could see his face go through a
  whole series of reactions, as gradual as a cartoon: suspicion, slow-dawning
  recognition, hostility, aggression. He was not a quick thinker.
  
  “You screwed up, man,” I said.
  
  “The hell you talking about?” His voice was high and choked.
  
  “The way she gave you the slip. The boss isn’t going to like that.”
  
  He s