Tool Time

A couple of nights ago, I volunteered to help Jason out at his cabinet shop.

Admittedly, I am of little use around tools which makes me a piss-poor carpentry assistant, but Jason seemed genuinely happy to have me tag along. We got to the shop around 7PM and he quickly got to the business of sawing. I buried my head in his laptop as to avoid looking at him while he used the table saw.

I get crazy nervous to see him use the saws – I imagine his fingers getting sucked up into the blade and coming out the other end like chewed up Vienna sausages. Then fingerless, he wouldn’t be able to pick his nose and we just don’t have the kind of money to hire a nurse for that. A nose-picking nurse, while a justifiable expenditure, is just not in our budget right now.

He gave me about an hour before he shut the laptop on me. I stared at his still-intact fingers much longer than necessary thinking only of how much I would miss them if they were ever sliced off. For Pete’s sake, he picks up spiders that make their way into the house – who would do that if he lost his fingers? I’ve never heard of a nurse that does that.

I was tasked with heat-setting maple veneers to the raw wood edges of something Jason referred to as ‘cabinet door stops’. After all the edges were covered, I took a hand planer and shaved down the overlap. It was quite relaxing in an odd, zen-like way. I didn’t tell him or I’d be at his shop right now shaving away and I have a limit on how long I can keep my mind off the danger his fingers are in.

We worked until 11PM – he kept all his fingers and I got two splinters in mine.

The next morning he was up at first light while I snuggled deeper into our bed.
Before he walked out our bedroom door he whispered, “Hey, Honey…Honey”.
I blinked against the brightness of the room. He stood at my side of the bed, shooting me the finger. His precious middle finger.

I smiled and rolled over.