The Tiger

Before Obi-Wan & I got real tight with each other my best friend was the 14 year old kid next door, The Tiger. He's 16 now and too cool to be seen with old 30-somethin' like me. But we still talk occasionally. Yes I know it sounds weird, or maybe perverted - an adult and a kid being "friends". But the Tiger is ADDICTED to work. I mean, if I'm in my back yard doing some piddly project, he's right there hanging his head over the fence just waiting for me to invite him over to join. Every time. If I hand him a shovel and ask him to dig a hole while I go in the air-condition and sip a Fat Tire, he'd be half-way to China when my bottle's empty. Then he'd ask if he could dig another hole.

And this kid is brilliant. Not in a school book kind of way. He hates school. That's another story. But he's figured out how to fix most anything. He has a knack for finding lawn equipment next to dumpsters or at garage sales for cheap because they "don't work". Then he fiddles with them and discovers they need some $1.50 spark plug or some wire he can rig up from spare parts laying in his yard then boom - he's got another working mower...to add to the other 3 he's got. Then eventually he'll sell it in his Mom's garage sale for $25-$30. Amazing. The sad thing is that at one time *I* could have identified myself with the guy who puts his mower out next to a dumpster because it "wouldn't work". Not that I've actually done that but who knows how many times I have taken the easy way out and just replace some malfunctioning item rather than try to fix it, or make it work somehow. I've learned to be more like Tiger in recent years. And if I don't know how to fix it, Tiger can.