Watching the inauguration at Sportsmen

The classical supergroup sounded its final note on the inaugural stage. “Now. Now can we do this?” Randolph Byrd, a barber at Sportsmen House of Coiffures on Swope Parkway, asked impatiently.

This was the swearing in of the 44th president. Work at Sportsmen came to a halt as Barack Obama took the oath. Even the UPS guy stopped and watched.

As Obama swore to defend the constitution, Byrd stood by his chair, arms locked with fellow hair stylist Mary Bryson. Byrd said he was sorry that his mother hadn’t lived to see the day. “Good luck to him,” he said, watching Obama on a television atop a refrigerator.

“To him? To all of us,” Bryson answered.