Yesterday, I hired a young man to help Randa and me scrape, scrub and scour away the mess one of our renters left behind when he disappeared a couple of months after his rent payments already had. Curtis and I began cleaning the porch and prepping it for painting while Randa applied a warm iron and paper towels to a few of the places where wax had been melted into the carpet. I had to resort to paint thinner to clean up an oil spill on the porch while Curtis continued scraping loose paint.

Man, what a fine worker he is! He went after whatever I told him to do as if he couldn’t think of anything finer to do. When I had him scrape off loose paint, you’d have thought he had waited his whole life for the chance to scrape paint. When the job turned to sweeping, same thing. Washing the porch off and then having to go over every square inch with a cleaning rag to remove the residue apparently provided the perfect opportunity for a Thursday evening on a hot and humid day. Sweat beaded on his face and forehead and on his muscular arms, even on the hand still swollen from a wasp sting acquired the day before. After a couple of hours of such exuberant opportunity, I suggested it might be time for a visit to Taco Bells. “I think I could be persuaded to do that,” he grinned.

On the way there, he asked my advice on a personal situation, “You’ve had a lot of experience, Doc,” he began, “and I know you’ve taken some psychology classes.” Then, he shared his questions and I answered them as well as I could. Of course, I have no idea how the situation will play out but I do know this, any woman who ends up marrying Curtis and sharing a life of respect, consideration and love will never go hungry because her man is too lazy to work. And if he puts the same sort of energy and effort into his marriage that he puts into cleaning up a dirty apartment, she’ll never feel neglected or unloved, either.

H. Arnett
8/14/09