The Repairman

 

Every time he shows up, he trips over the cat. (I suspect the cat is starting to see the humor in this.) The cat weighs 28 lbs. and there’s a lot of her to walk around.

He has left a lot of chores half done, a lot of jobs up in the air.  The Repairman, not the cat. 

At last count, there is still some junk in the basement, from the previous owner, last occupying the house forty years ago, that he still has not carted out through the cellar door. 

There are floorboards in the hall that poke up just enough to catch my shoe every time I pass them.  And the doorknob on the master bedroom door keeps falling off. (Although he has worked on it several times through the years.)

He did unclog the sink, and a good job he did, too.  And he unstuck the bedroom storm window just in time for the change of seasons.

He repaired the carpeted wooden window seat for my fur babies, but not before it fell off and broke my middle toe.  I’m not kidding because, even though in a lot of pain, I could still move it and so I never went to the doctor.  My reward for my fortitude is that the toe grew very funny looking, something’s not right there. 

He very kindly came right over when I panicked after an unknown creature died in my basement.  After giving it a good search, and not able to find the little brute, he sprayed down there with a miracle formula that greatly reduced the stink!

He retrieved a plant growing in the gutter system of the roof.  (There is probably a forest up there by now.)

He did repair my sock drawer but it took him two weeks to do it.

 He did fix the hose on the washing machine so that the water empties into the tub again instead of the floor.  But the plastic tie he used was so loose that if I hadn’t checked it, it would have fallen right off again.

He did seal the drafty kitchen window, which now looks so pretty that I’ve left the plastic in place, even though it’s now June, and I need to use the A/C in that room.

Not forgetting that a few years ago, he did extend the railing in the basement, the one I reached for, missed, fell and then…broke my hip on the cement floor.  (That extension is rock solid and I trust it completely.)

He gives me a laugh every time he comes over. And I can trust him in my home, his character is so good. He always charges me less than fair price. In fact, I give him more money than he requests, because I feel guilty.

I think that the reason he does not do all the repairs is because he chooses to do only the ones he likes to do.  It’s a matter of freedom of choice on his part you might say.

He just told me that he can’t come back right because he’s going on vacation.

The cat says, “I can wait.”