On Thursday I wanted to go the coffeeshop and work on my writings. But being picky as I always am, I saw that the fence on one side of our house, the one that I finished painting a few weeks ago, seemed askew. I first thought some of the neighbor kids came through here; it's happened once before, I believe. But then I thought the door looked weird because of the weather we had. There were huge winds, gigantic and unrelenting gales, and it looked like one of the doors on the fence was partially off its hinges.
So I put my laptop down and I investigate. First, I saw that one of the supporting wood braces on the door I wasn't investigating had torn off. Then I saw that the door I was investigating really was partially on its hinges. I wanted to close it back up completely, but as I tried to, it went from partially to completely off its hinges; it tore off and tipped into me. I had to wrestle it to its side, but the door was now on the ground, and anybody could see right into our backyard, the purpose of the door being to prevent that.
I sighed because this is more time wasted from me writing. So I had to call Father about it, who said he'd see. Understood when he said he didn't want to deal with it that day.
---
Halloween. Grandmother woke me up at 1 -- gloriously late. I thought I had the time, so I sat down on my laptop and did some errands. Grandmother wanted to go to the market, but I wanted one more half-hour to finish.
She asked me this at 2. At about 2:20 I heard the door open. Parents are home -- jigga wha'?! I still had shit to do till 2:30, but I asked Grandmother to wait till I check out what Father was doing outside. Sure enough, Father was out fixing the fence.
I had no choice. I needed to take Grandmother to market. Then I wanted to go and check out the University Avenue Project, then go to the Mall Of America and eat at Hooters and get my free chocolate at Godiva, then stop by My Favorite Stripclub for a little bit, then exercise, then eat at My Favorite Late-Night Place; that should be enough time for all the trick-or-treaters to clear from the streets so I can safely go back to the house without some awkward run-in with some kid demanding candy from me.
Those plans will be altered because I have to do a son's duty. Besides, I can't give My Father any damn reason to throw me out of the house, or at least more than the ones he already has. So I drop everything and go help him with the fence.
It is a two-man job; the other fence fell, and it's so heavy, and the process of putting it back on its hinges precise enough, that it can't be done alone. Still, I had no idea how involved this repair was going to be -- nor how long I was going to be helping Father.
That is because he didn't just take out the bad nails, pound in some good ones, put in a new piece of vertical wood that holds the door to the hinge and the rest of the fence. No, first he took out a lot of nails, good and bad, then he took out a piece of horizontal wood on top of the fence that was rotting but still held good, I think. Then he took out more pieces of wood, then told me to help him turn it around and upside-down or something.
When he started taking out another piece of wood from the fence, I started looking at my watch. I should be at the market with Grandmother by now, I thought to myself. But I was going to be late. And when Father continued to think, then work on the fence some more, I started to look at my watch more and mark what I no longer could do -- OK, can't go to the market, have to do that tomorrow for her ... man, it's getting dark for the project, will I be able to see? ... shit man, can I exercise now? ... shit, can I go to the strip bar now? ... my God, it's getting dark -- will we be done before the trick-or-treaters come?
What I think he did, and I don't know for sure, was that he wanted a stronger brace wood (huh?) so that the door won't tear from the fence so easily again, so what he did was take out another that second piece of wood, turn it around or something, and use that. Don't know why. But we, along with the help of Mother, who helped me situate the door just so above the ground that Father can attach it to the hinges with screws, finally got it back on, even if it doesn't close flush with the other door.
So I had to take off immediately after we were done. I apologized to Grandmother for keeping her housebound this Halloween, then I bolted for the project, which was really cool and told, through pictures, the stories of a neighborhood that will be altered for good because the new Light Rail line will go through the avenue, which stretches between both Twin Cities. I had to forego Hooters though -- will be spending too much gas, besides it's overpriced -- and had to get my free chocolate at a mall closer to University Ave.
I also decided to cut going to the nudie bar -- might as well save money if I don't have the time -- but the community activity center where I worked out was closed, even though they said they'd be open. But I drove a lot even though I didn't go down to the Megamall because not only did I drive back-and-forth across University but had to change plans and go to a stripclub, though not My Favorite. Ate and got home well past midnight, with the little kiddies at home in their sugar comas.
I'm over it now, but the most galling thing about spending, I think, about 1 3/4 hours outside just watching Father fix the fence and occasionally lifting it is that it didn't have to be done that day, Halloween. No, I can understand not wanting to do it the afternoon after it broke, but it could have been done the next day or the next day. Shit, I cleared my schedule that Thursday and Friday so that I was available if he needed help. But no, he wanted to do it Halloween for some damn reason, even though he knows I'm always escaping the trick-or-treaters and heading out.
No comments:
Post a Comment