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I’m startled as I turn the corner into the living room and see my mom sitting there, reading a magazine. She’s never home, just hanging out.
“Oh, hey, Mom. Do you know where Dad keeps a hammer?”
She looks up at me with her eyes pinched. “A hammer? Why?”
I figured if I’m going to fix a fence, I should show up prepared, but I’m definitely not telling my mom that. “I just need one to hang something in my room. Where would it be?”
She shakes her head. “You can look in the cabinet in the garage, but I’d be shocked if there’s one in there. We normally have Steve do that kind of stuff when needed, but he’s gone for the day.”
Steve is the guy who takes care of our property, which, until now, I never thought was that odd. All of my friends have guys who work on their houses, so why should I have thought differently?
I head to the garage, and my mom was right. There’s nothing in here that even comes close to resembling any type of tool.
I close the garage and head out for my run without any way to fix this fence. I hope Natalie has the tools that will be needed, or I’m fucked.
When I arrive at the river, I look for a place to cross, seeing a few rocks I can jump on to do so. As I do, I see her waiting there for me. I press pause on the music playing in my ears and remove the earbuds, sticking them in my pocket.
“You came,” she says with her arms crossed, looking pissed off.
“Don’t look so happy.”
“I’m not. Follow me so we can get this over with, and then I can turn in the paper I’ve already written, talking about your failures.”
“Ye of little faith.”
She rolls her eyes and walks me to where a fence looks like it hasn’t been touched in twenty years. She turns to me, then asks, “Where are your tools?”
I open my arms to the sides. “It’s not like I have my own customized tool set. This isn’t something I do every day.”
“Figures.” She grabs a toolbox she had sitting where I couldn’t see it.
“Aw, you do care,” I taunt.
“Just fix the fence.”
She walks to her horse and leaves me there to figure out what the hell I’m going to do. I’d be lying if I said she didn’t nail a flaw of mine, but I’ll be damned if I let her know about it. I always played with Legos when I was younger. I’m sure this is no different.
After I assess the situation and see how the rest of the fence was built, I get to work. Even though I have no clue what I’m actually doing, I hide that fact the best I can and stick my AirPods back into my ears and hum “Straight and Narrow” by Sam Barber as I work.
Only a few minutes go by before I figure out how the fence should come together, and I grab some nails that she brought. Holding the nail with one hand, I swing the hammer with my other hand, missing slightly and pounding my thumb instead. Playing off that it doesn’t hurt is probably the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life, but there is no way I’ll let her know what just happened. I’ll never give her that kind of satisfaction.
With a steady breath, I hold the nail again, and this time, I don’t miss as I pound the head in at an angle to get the board next to it. With one board up, I step back to examine my work, proud of what I’ve done so far.I quickly get back to work, knowing I have about ten more of those to go before I’m done.
The more I work, the more I realize just how much fun this actually is. Rewarding too. I get three more boards up, and the fence is really starting to take shape. I place my hand on the last board I nailed in and give it a good tug to make sure it’s secure. To my surprise, it’s stiff and not going anywhere.
I’ve never been so proud of myself. I came here, not having a clue what to do, but I’d say I did a pretty fucking good job.
Removing my AirPods, I head to where she’s been sitting with her horse with a grin on my face. “Boy, are you going to regret making that deal with me.”
“Oh, really?” She tilts her head like she doesn’t believe me.
“Go check it out yourself.” I nod my head in that direction and then turn to walk back, not waiting for her.
She’s a few steps behind me, and it takes all my willpower to not turn around and gloat about what I accomplished. I know my silence is killing her, but my work speaks loud and clear.
Not only did I fix the fence, but I also made it ten times better than it was originally, and there’s no way she can deny it.
Even though she won’t look my way, she doesn’t have to. I won our little bet, and I can’t wait to make up shit about her to turn in to our teacher.
