If I had a hammer . . .

*** continued from previous post  ***


The poor thing walked out of the house with a wild look in her eye. I say 'eye', not 'eyes' because for some reason one eye was open quite wide, and the other was clenched shut. 'Scrinched' is the proper descriptor. I would have asked why, but it didn't seem appropriate. I knew this was the most stressful time for her.

"What do you want?", she asked, "I'm kind of busy in here."

"Ummm. . .", I stammered, "I took everything out of the bike so we could pack. I think," I said, as calmly as I could, "that we need to be a little more spartan in what we take."

I pointed to the stuff laying on the ground. I've seen yard sales with less inventory.
Mom looked over the driveway filled with debris. She turned to me - or on me - I couldn't tell, and said, "What about it?"

I didn't much care for her challenging tone, but I would let it pass because I'm a coward. "Well, I just think that we need to conserve as much space as possible. Surely we can leave some of this stuff at home?"

To your Mom, them there is fightin' words.

"We need that stuff.", she said as if she were explaining to a small child.

"All of it?"

I swear to God she rolled up her sleeves, clenching and unclenching her fists. Well, maybe not. I might have imagined that part. "You have stuff in there too, it's not just me so don't act like I'm being unreasonable."

I shook my head in the positive, agreeing. "I would never suggest that you were being unreasonable. However, lets look at what you have, and lets see what I have, shall we? You," I said, and swept my arm towards the contents spread on the ground, "have all of this. While I," I said and reached down and picked up a small bag with Allen wrenches, a Phillip's-head screwdriver, a standard screwdriver, needle-nose pliers, 10 zip ties, 3 short bungee cords, a tire gauge, and a roll of duct tape, "have this."

Except for the duct tape it fit quite well in a small bagie.

She looked from me to the disgorged contents of the bike, to the bag I held in my hand, then back to me. "And your point is what?"

"My point is that there is no way we can take all of this AND our clothes AND the extra stuff we're going to need."

"Oh," she said, "you mean like the laptop you want to bring along?"

Gah. She had me there. You know how I get to Jonesin' if I don't have my Interwebs. I had to think quickly. "Well, I'll admit that may seem like a luxury, but we need it to plan routes and look up . . . things."

"And for you to check email, the forums for the bike, Woot, and LOL Cats?"

Damn you LOL Cats! There you are again! You will be my downfall yet!

"Among other things," I answered. "But look, we're getting off the point here. Really, can't we do without some of it? I mean, do we need a hammer?"

She looked like maybe she would like to use the hammer now. Upside my noggin. "Fine. Yes, that we can do without. We can leave the hammer."




*** the journey continues tomorrow