Close Call/House Call

I came home from TKGA last week to a husband who poured me a glass of wine and turned on the 11 o'clock news, as is our custom, old married couple that we are.  We like to heckle together. Thoreau said that after you grasp the basic concept, all news is merely gossip.  No media proves this better than the local late night television broadcast.

We watched the murder news (sometimes we flip from one local channel to the next comparing which shooting they choose to lead off with), the car chase/roll-over of the day, the people-on-trial portion, and waited for the weather (aka: the stuff you can actually use), and when the sports came on, he said, pouring me another taste of Cheverny, "Pat Russo made your wheel, right?" (it was an intended pun, I am afraid.  He's that kind of guy).

"Yes" I said. I thought this was kind of cute, but nothing more of it quite yet.
"Did you know that he works for xxxx?"
"No, I didn't" Here I wondered a little at where this had come from, but then decided that The Mister must have run into someone at one of his flea market/trash picking sessions, and somehow it had come up in conversation, my being a spinner and loving my Vermont Wheel in particular and all that, and that perhaps the person had known Pat or Robin, his wife.  But my husband had more to say.

"You know he's staying three towns south of here this week?"

Okay friends.  This is where I began to speculate wildly about the reasons for the conversation. 

"How do you know that?"

"His sister-in-law told me." This was now officially suspicious.

"You  called the Northeast Fiber Centre?"

"How else does one get to talk to her?"   He's a sly one, folks, isn't he?

"Care to share with me why you called?"

"Well, he said, placing his elbows one at a time on the table and interlacing his fingers in a languid yet rhetorical gesture of calm, "There's good news and there's bad news." He paused for effect. "The good news is that it can be fixed . . ."

I did not run to the wheel at this point because I didn't want be the lead story on channel 7, but when I examined it the following day -- when I had conjured my happy place, done my deep breaths, and felt able to face the damage -- what I found was that the dowel that connects the mother-of-all to the wheel's table had snapped off under the weight of a large wing chair and a five-year-old boy experimenting with gravity and counterbalances.  The only thing hurt was a three inch long piece of wood, easily repaired.  Had the wheel not caught the chair tipping backwards, my son may have ended up in the hospital, but as it stands, my son now believes me when I say he could fall and hurt himself, my husband  knows that names of all the parts of a spinning wheel, and Pat Russo was able to make a house call.

Comments

[Vicki]

You had me on the edge of my seat! Great story -- and I'm so thankful for the happy ending!

[Anne]

Your husband wins the prize for doing his homework before you came home. (Short of actually getting it fixed before you came home, that's the most masterful solution I can imagine.) And how gallant to spare your son the shame of telling you...

[Carole]

Alls well that ends well, eh? Your heart must have been in your throat. Oh, and Dale and I watch the news in very similar fashion.

[loribird]

Oh, he was almost in the deep end of it, wasn't he? Smart man, yours... So glad it could be fixed! (and that the kiddo's okay)

[Christie]

Well that's a happy ending I can live with!

[Emma.]

Ah.
A good man, your husband.
We have a very boistrous 4 yr old visiting tomorrow. Wonder where I should secrete my wheel.

[--Deb]

Ooh, excellent story-telling there, I was getting chills! Tricky man, your husband, and not too shabby at the story-telling himself..... Phew!

[Dianna]

Ah, a well-trained fiber spouse! Researches the homework on the fix before he breaks the bad fiber content news....he's a keeper!

[Tonia]

Glad that it was fixable and especially that your son wasn't hurt.

[claudia]

That dude can charm his way out of anything. Nicely done.

[elaine]

wait a sec...do you live near the northeast fiber arts center?

[Heather]

Oh. My. God. First, your hubby is goooood...lol. Second, SO glad your son is OK! and HOORAY FOR PAT RUSSO!

[Dava]

Convoluted luck. It makes the best stories. And I'm glad there was a happy ending!

[Karen in Moorhead]

So glad your husband took charge of the situation and made the call(s) necessary to get the repair under way. Seems the men in my life (related or not) wouldn't have given it another thought. Gold stars for your husband. Definitely a keeper, and so glad your son wasn't seriously injured. I'm guessing he has a deep respect for the wheel now, and it won't be damaged again. I can't imagine the fretting that went on between the time it was damaged and the time the news was broken to mom. ; )
Karen

[Manise]

I was wondering when you were going to "tell all" about the broken tool. Very crafty husband and a housecall to boot! Wow!

[Mary K. IN Rockport]

Our younger rode more than one chair to the floor with no more ill effects than getting her fingertips smushed between the chair back and the floor. The various chairs suffered more than she did. But I really lost it when she bit a hole in the couch upholstery trying to maintain a headstand..... Shortly after that episode, we enrolled her in intensive gymnastics, and our household was saved.

[Laurie]

Salvaging a win/win/wine was pretty good. I could hear his delivery in my ear.

Human learning is an often dangerous thing.

[Chris]

Yikes! I've seen many a run in with kids and wheels here at my house but it took my dog to do the actual breaking. One kid took out a tv, though - and almost himself at the same time. So glad your story ends on the good news with such a clever husband watching out for you.

[Juno]

I like to imagine the conversation that might have taken place if he HADN'T hunted down the wheel...erm, right so promptly.

The boy shows no ill effect I hope?

[Kathy]

That's why wine is such a beautiful thing. Imagine that conversation with Diet Cokes; not so good.

[June]

It's always good to get the good news first. Glad The Boy wasn't hurt, and yay for PR! That's customer service at its finest!

[Beth S.]

This means everything's fixed now, right? What a lucky break (er...) that the wheelwright himself happened to be nearby! (And willing to visit the patient in person!)

I'm so glad this tale of woe had a happy ending, and that a certain young acrobat learned a valuable lesson, too. ;-)

[gretchen]

since everyone, and everything, came out all right, I will confess i laughed out loud. at my desk at work. thanks for the chuckle!

[Lucia]

Does Boy know how lucky he is to be alive?

The only news we habitually watch is the Daily Show, for which heckling is sort of redundant.

[Kay]

Don't know which I enjoyed more, the story or the telling of it.

xoxo Kay