He drew an invisible X on the floor,
“Stand right here and don’t move”.
He handed me the droplight
and pointed to a spot ahead of us,
“If you want to help, shine the light here.”
I was ten and really wanted to help,
How was this helpful?
He put the toolbox down, opened it, took my arm,
and moved the light over it,
“Follow my hand, shine the light there.”
He was my dad and it seemed, he was hardly ever home,
but it was clear he took great pride in his work.
It was an honor to go on a service call.
How was this helpful?
“See this,” he said, “this is the problem.”
He then moved over to the basement sink.
“Come here with the light and bring the toolbox with you,
watch and learn.”
Wow, it was much heavier than I thought.
He carried it with such ease.
At the sink, he reached into the toolbox,
and disassembled the unit with a bunch of tools,
without words, he showed me what was wrong
and then reassembled the unit
his hands and fingers moved fast and sure
We moved back to the burner compartment,
and put everything back together,
then we turned the unit on and made sure it ran.
… then he turned it off and then on again
… then he did it again and waited for the heat to come up
He we went to the stairs and called up, “All set”
From the top of the stairs the woman said, “Thank you.”
“There will be no more problems,” he said.
From the top of the stairs the woman said, “I’m sure you’re right.”
“OK, let’s pack up.
Make sure all the tools are away and wrap the light up this way.”
I put the stuff in the truck and got in the passenger seat.
How was this helpful?
On the way home, he patted me on the head.
MaddogPoetry 