Disclaimer: The characters of the Stephanie Plum Series belong to Janet Evanovich and are used here without permission
Challenge: Weekly Wednesday Challenge for 12/14. “Piece of crap machine, I was better off when I did it manually”
Young Carlos Suggests A Solution
By TT
Carlos kneeled on the toilet seat staring up at his father, utterly entranced. In a tradition of generations, the boy watched as his father began his morning shaving routine.
Unlike times past, however, Mr. Manoso didn’t prepare shaving cream. In fact, he didn’t lather his face at all.
Until a month ago, Mr. Manoso had lathered his face before shaving. He had also used a straight razor.
One month ago, Mrs. Manoso had gone into their room to drop off some sheets and found young Carlos standing on tip-toes at the sink with the straight razor in his hand and open.
That same day, she had thrown out the straight razor and bought an electric shaver.
Though he objected to the change, Mr. Manoso understood his wife’s concerns.
The fact that he now had to shave twice a day to get the same smoothness as he once got with his straight razor was an irritation, but one he put up with to keep his wife happy.
This morning, as Carlos watched him intently, Mr. Manoso progressed with his shave. He was about half way through when the power suddenly went out.
Biting back a curse, Mr. Manoso left the bathroom, Carlos hot on his heels. He bellowed for his wife who didn’t answer.
Continuing into the house, he called again This time he received a muffled response.
Entering the kitchen, he turned toward the open basement door in time to see his wife appear with an armful of candles. With a quick step, he met her and took a few candles.
“Is it just our house?” he asked.
“No, it’s at least the neighborhood,” Mrs. Manoso informed, reaching for the matches and lighting a candle. She was about to say something else when she caught sight of her husband’s half-shaved face. “What happened?” she asked, reaching up to touch his cheek.
“Power went out before I could finish,” Mr. Manoso replied. “It’s a piece of crap machine, anyway,” he continued, letting the frustration that had been building for a month. “I was better off when I did it manually, Now I have to shave twice a day and I can’t shave at all when the power goes out. How am I supposed to go to work like this?” he complained, his voice getting louder.
“Oh, dear,” Mrs. Manoso replied, wringing her hands.
Hating to see his parents so distressed, Carlos thought furiously until he came up with a solution. “You could use Mom’s razor,” the boy suggested.
His parents exchanged looks the boy couldn’t read before his father turned on his heel and muttered, “Piece of crap machine” again before his mutterings faded away.
Little did he suspect that years later he would find himself in a similar predicament.
“Just use it and let’s go!” Stephanie encouraged, running around the bedroom as she grabbed her purse. They needed to get to the wedding if they were going to catch their skip on time.
Ranger stood staring at the women’s razor she had placed in his hand and closed his eyes as a shudder ran through him. Once before when he’d been married to Rachel he’d had no choice but to use her razor. The trauma of that event had stayed with him, as had a very small, very fine scar.
“Now, Ranger!” Stephanie commanded, pushing him back toward the bathroom. “You’re the one who said this was our only chance.”
With a sigh of resignation, Ranger turned on the water in the sink and went to work.
End.