Message from Velma: Just a reminder that this is the second part of a three part story. If you got here without first reading Divine Hammer by The Breeders, click here.
Song:
Here
Comes Your Man by the Pixies
Scenario:
I
wondered how long it would take for him to realize he left his hammer and
level in my bedroom – the level on my bed, the hammer on the floor near
my window.
Would
he realize it once he got back into his truck? Would he not realize it
until he reached his next job? Would he remember where he left them?
KNOCK.
KNOCK.
Ah-ha.
He realized it when he got into his truck.
“Hi?”
I said with an innocent expression after I opened the door to see him with
a silly grin on his face.
“Uh, heh, hi. I think I left my work order here. You mind if I come in and get it?” he asked.
Work
order?
“Sure.
Come in,” I said as I gestured him inside.
He
walked back into the kitchen and grabbed a piece of paper off my counter
top. He turned around and started to walk back. He stopped next to me in
the space between the entryway and the hall. He pulled a pen out of his
belt and signed the paper. He was so close, I wondered if he could hear my
heartbeat growing louder and louder.
“I’m
sorry about that. I totally forgot. Here is your copy,” he said handing
me a yellow carbon copy he ripped from the form.
“Not
a problem,” I said as my fingertips lightly glided over his to take the
paper from him.
He
smiled at me for a second then started towards the door. He opened it
himself and walked out.
“See
ya’,” he said as he walked away.
“See
ya’,” I returned.
I
didn’t close the door right away. This time I stood there watching him
walk away out into the parking lot. He walked with a confident strut.
Once
he disappeared into the afternoon sunlight, I closed the door and stood
there leaning with my back against it. I couldn’t think. I was suddenly
6-years-old waiting for Santa on Christmas Eve. When will Santa get
here? What will he bring for me? Does Santa think I’m naughty or nice?
He
was going to have to come back for those tools. I was scatty at the
prospect, yet felt simultaneously silly for being so excited.
KNOCK.
KNOCK.
The
vibrations of the knocking on the door transferred to my back sending a
chill down my spine. I took a deep breath in. And another. And another. I
composed myself, and took a quick look at my face in the mirror near the
door. I was flushed and my eyes were bright. Would he notice my aroused
state?
I
opened the door. He just forgot his tools; that’s all. Stop reading
something into this. I looked at him with faux surprise.
“Uh,
hi again,” I said.
“Oh
man,” he said as he started laughing at himself. “I am so sorry about
this.” He laughed some more. “I left my level here, I think.”
I
smiled and laughed along, too.
“Awe,
no worries. Come on in,” I said.
“Thanks.
I don’t know what is wrong with me today,” he said as he made his way
down the hallway to my bedroom. He knew right where he left it. He knew
what he was doing.
“Oh,
everyone has one-of-those-days,” I said following him into my room.
He
saw the level and picked it up.
“So,
what does a level do exactly?” I asked.
“Oh,
well, see . . .” he said lifting the level beam up so I could look at
the fluid filled tubes with little bubbles inside. “Those lines right
there?”
“Yeah?”
“Well,
you want the bubble . . . see it? You want the bubble to float just
between those two lines. That means your surface is perfectly flat either
horizontally or vertically, if you turn it this way. See?” he explained
as he placed the level on my window ceil then on the side of the window.
I
was standing so close to him, showing my focus on his tool. I caressed the
brushed aluminum. Our arms touched and tangled as he moved behind me,
showing me how to position the level, showing me just how level my window
is. I could feel his warm breath near my ear.
“So,
is my ceil level?” I asked.
“Hell
no,” he giggled into my ear. “This place was built for shit, but it
keeps Miller and now me in a job.” He paused. “Uh, that’s between
you and me, okay?”
He
holds all these sweet characteristics, but he’s a disgruntled crank,
too. Can he get more perfect?
“Your
secret is safe with me,” I said giggling.
He
started to pull the level away from the ceil and started backing up, I
turned around to face him. I saw his eyes glancing on the floor behind me,
then back up to my face.
“Sorry
again to keep disturbing you,” he said with a twinge of sadness in his
eye.
Oh,
God. Is he changing his mind? Is this little plot just in my head? Is he
really leaving?
“Again,
no worries,” I said with a serious note. Stop apologizing.
Then
he started back down the hallway, back to my front door. He opened the
door and walked out.
“Bye.”
“Bye.”
I
closed the door, almost angry at this point. What kinda roller coaster
ride is this?
I
walked back into my bedroom and looked at the red handled hammer on the
floor between my bed and window. He had seen that hammer. He was looking
at it when he was behind me at the window. He was doing this on purpose.
This repair guy desperately needed something to fix.
So,
I pushed my bed back into place, masking the hammer’s whereabouts. Apolo
was going to have to work for this one.
Some time passed. I wondered if maybe he wasn’t going to come back. Maybe he had changed his mind. Maybe he really did forget the work order, the level, but just completely forgot the hammer. Well, now I have a new hammer.
There
is a wait so long. So long. So long. You’ll never wait so long. Here
comes your man.
KNOCK.
KNOCK.
The
sound startled me out of my thoughts.
This
time I opened the door and just stared at him.
“Hi,”
he said without smiling. “Look, I think I left my hammer here.”
“Did
you use a hammer?” I asked.
“I
think I had it with me, but I can’t find it now,” he said.
We
were both in a place of frustration. I felt badly for him. I felt badly
for myself. It was so silly. This game needed to end one way or another.
“Come
on in. Do you have an idea where you left it?”
“Yeah,
I am pretty sure that . . .” he said as he entered my room and paused at
the sight of the bed pushed back into place.
He
looked back at me. I couldn’t help it. I smiled like a cat with a
feather hanging out of its mouth. Then his mouth opened to a broad smile.
“I
think it is behind your bed here, underneath the window,” he said.
“Oh,
well, let me slide over here and get it,” I said as I brushed in front
of him this time. My index finger trailed a touch along his thigh as I
passed. The tease is on!
Like
some J-Lo style kitty cat, I crawled on top of my bed then laid myself out
on my side as I slid my arm down near the wall. I spent extra time
pretending to feel around for the red handle.
“Can
you find it?” he asked.
I
couldn’t believe it when I felt him sliding onto the bed next to me.
“I
have it,” I said, grabbing the hammer and rolling around on the bed to
face him.
“Is
this your hammer?”
He
giggled as he took it from my hand.
“You
have a lot of hammers just lying around?” he said laughing.
“Well,”
I said stroking the handle in his hands. “I am always looking for the
one divine hammer. You know, a well-made hammer that gets the job done. A
hammer that feels good in your hands . . .”
I
rolled over onto him rubbing my hands on his chest. I moved my face closer to
his.
“What
do you think about my hammer?” he asked in that sexy voice of his.
“I don’t know yet, but it looks like it bangs pretty well,” I said as I moved my hand down his arm and took the hammer out of his hand, placing it on the nightstand.