“It’s just flat not gonna go.” I was quite certain about changing out the reciprocating saw blade for a different style.
“That is absolutely not what you say about that.” He picked up the new blade and walked over to the bench grinder.
“You gonna inflict some positivity on it?” I remained skeptical.
“It’s not whether it will work, it’s what are you gonna do to make it work.” It took a few trips to the grinder and back, but he reshaped the blade enough to make it work.
“There.” He tightened the blade into place. “See if it’s got the woogity woogity.”
It did.

I always wonder about whether that type of fiddling is worthwhile. It just seemed like a worthless distraction when I could surely find another way to expand the hole. After all, he was under the gun for four different projects, and he still took the time to tighten up the sledgehammer after I had noticed it and saw that the head was loose. We hadn’t even known where it was for the past several weeks. It was not important to do. He should have been working on wiring the Nissan. But as soon as he heard something was wrong with it, he pulls himself away to fix it. After all, if something can be improved by your presence, you should do it. That’s just the way he is. Distractable, for one.