One day he will come into the bathroom br to watch you use the blade. And at five br or six or however old he still won't have br the right words, but what he'll be looking for br is the truth of his future face scraped clean br or shaped by beard. He'll want admittance br to the ritual and he will stand and stare at the wet br edge of the Ewek & Son Sexto©Blade flush br against your skin. br br 'Daddy, what's that? ' he'll say. br 'Straight razor, son, ' you'll tell him br as you sweep the steel of your father's blade br through the lather covering your jugular vein. br 'It takes the shadow off my face.' br br 'But where does the shadow come from? ' br As usual, he'll want the answers to everything br years too soon. Say nothing. He must learn br the rest in the way you strop the razor, br in the tone of the cold water thrown against br your face, in the damp towel and how you br consider yourself at the mirror before br tousling his hair and walking away br leaving him to write his own future in the mystery br of a fogged mirror or the sting of styptic pencil br punctuated by the blotting shreds of tissue br torn to stem the inevitable consequences br of a young man's desires grown then cut br to fall with the thin hairs of his first shave.