The Handyman

This morning’s walk was a crisp yet delightful experience. Bruno and I went out to Memorial Drive and turned right. At Calumet we turned left and then snuck through a yard to take Foster. At Bouten we turned left and then left again at Verbrick. Three more blocks and we were back home. We call this the “White House” route because on Foster there is a very nice Edwardian house painted white. It went up for sale in the spring and last month, new owners moved in. Its grand front porch is tastefully decorated for Halloween. And, we met the resident Scottie who didn’t seem to like Bruno very well but Bruno was more interested in sniffing the bunny trails left from early morning grass munching. He is a basset hound, after all.

My schedule today is focused on a handyman coming to do projects. There are some last minute things that need attention. I say last minute because our house was officially listed for sale on October 1 and all of this should have been completed by then. But they’re little things that will only take the day maybe a return trip to install a light switch or two that we haven’t bought because we don’t know what to get. Bill freely admits his forte is not handyman work and I only dabble with non-electrical things.

Our handyman has been unemployed since last December. Not quite as long as me but I think more devastating. We met him through the painter we hired in June to paint the trim on the house in case we really did have to sell the house in autumn. He was Bob’s assistant and coincidentally, is his cousin. Doc (funny, same nickname as my husband) worked in construction as a project manager and as the economy plummeted last year, the work in his field dried up. When he was here last week to assess what we needed done in order to get on his schedule, I learned that he had recently lost a vehicle to repossession and was turned down for a real job as a farm hand because of his credit rating after the repossession. I could hear the bitterness in his voice, see the pain in his eyes, and I felt the fear in myself. He couldn’t understand what cleaning stalls, feeding animals, and repairing a tractor had to do with his personal financial situation. I couldn’t either. I’m sure there are protective measures that are being taken by most employers but I would certainly hope that recent financial problems are overlooked. Lots of bad things are happening to good people.

Doc is an incredibly polite and professional man. He addresses me as “Ma’am,” uses please, may I, and thank you in his regular speech and presents himself so humbly that it makes me wonder why no one has hired this very talented man. Doc always asks me about my own job hunt. I give him the positives but only once, when October 1st came and we knew we had to stick to our plan to sell the house if I didn’t find work by our deadline, did I let my emotions show. The shock on his face hit me hard but I just reminded myself that this is not fatal. It’s only stuff.