Appearances

Sometimes there is satisfaction in the smallest of things. Even though it wasn't that hot, a bit of sweat was lining up on my forehead, any minute threatening to cascade down my face. I was concentrating and feeling that good feeling of doing good on several levels at once. I was sitting in my truck in the parking lot of a strip mall while my wife and daughter were shopping in that black hole of a place; the Dollar Store. Many wasted hours of my life have been spent in those stores, trying to not look like a shoplifter while my wife endlessly compared and pondered items for her class at school. The combination of wife and daughter in the store at the same time meant I needed to find something useful to do, and today I really did it. I had some problem interior pieces in my truck. Things installed with permanent glue that the maker said could not be removed any way at all. But, me armed with with Titanium Gerber hunting knife and plenty of time to kill, proved them wrong. Slowly and carefully, I bore down on the serated blade against the rubbery plastic, feeling much the same feeling as deboning a fish. Yes, I was getting the impossible done, and I was paying the sweat no mind as I felt the pleasure of using my time in the the best possible manner.
There was a gleam in my eye as I looked up to see my daughter standing there outside my truck, staring at the shaved-head old man, sweating, shiny eyes, and a big hunting knife in his hand.
"Dad, what are you doing? You ARE the kind of person you warned me about!"