Half There
The metal was hot enough.
A little red around the edges, but mostly white, the fire of saffron acetylene and cobalt oxygen reaking havoc on the poor Fe atoms. Beads of sweat rolled down my forearms and exploded sizzling in the white noise of thermal expansion. I had the tongs grasping it as I hooked a Vise-Grip jaw plier on to the 2X6 and clamped the strap to the board. I took a hammer and beat the iron around the perimeter of the wood and the small 2X3 stud. The metal was pliable and supple in my blackened hands. The strap wrapped around the board, cajoled into perfection by a combination of gentle engineering and brute force. I drove spikes through the holes I had blown through the iron with a torch into the douglas fir. Good. Not too much burn through. I was almost done with this timber leg. I doused the metal strap with cool water and winced away from the steam. The steel turned green, then blue, then finally the cold rainbow of temper as it shrunk in on itself and the wood, condensing them both into a stronger unit than either could be on it's own. A few more of these to go.
"...so, then the guy was like, telling me that his friend was dating this other girl the whole time I was out there, and I really should be upset, but I'm not, it was like, 'I don't care', you know?..."
A New York accent. Incredibly fast and very modulated. Girly. Very girly. Gilmore Girly. Electronically filtered. Piezo distorion of some kind. It fell from the burning blue sky on to my bare, sweaty shoulders.
"...I mean, come on, right? I guess they were in counselling and the relationship was on the rocks and everything, but its still kind of screwed up. So I said...Oh wait, you went to sleep..."
"No, I didn't. Well, not really. I was dreaming, but I still heard you. I was building a forge."
Fuzzy house. I'm laying on the recliner with a phone buried in my ear.
"What?"
"I was building a forge. It was a nice one."
"See, this is why I love talking to you."
I whine, "Now I want a forge."
13 comments:
"the cold rainbow of temper"
Perfect description. I aim to steal it from you someday. Maybe in reference to my failed attempts to properly anneal copper in a past life...
Well, I will let you. Of course, I must insist on 12% of all revenues earned by your website after you do. It's only fair.
If you ever come to Colorado, I can show you some killer azurite, malachite, and even some native Cu. You know, in case you want to go OG old school on that copper annealing shit.
Wit a forge, I imagin you coud help yer frends bild rlationships so sturdy that theyll rmain intackt evn if the fokes emselfs fall asleep wilst talkin bout em.
All sounds fair enough. And if you ever come to Oz, I can take you out west and show you some dirt that's even older than me.
Joey: Yes, maybe there was some type of imagery to the dream pertinent to that relationship. I think my psyche's telling me to use acetylene torches to make them do what I want.
At least you dint end up extolin th virtues o covalent bonding ovr ionick.
And what is it you want them to do?
I mean, that would require the use of a torch to achieve their cooperation...
Indulgance in the things we understand are always at risk for misinterpretation. The best thing to do is, yes, build a fort.
Oh sorry, that was forge. That too, I'm sure.
corrupter of young minds: I know a few friends are more willing to bend to my will than others.
Janet: I grew out of building forts, like, weeks ago.
Wow, and I thought telling someone that I was avoiding him like the plague was a bit blatant. Then again, he probably knows what the plague was, and she may not know what a forge is. Would I be incorrect in assuming that?
P.S. I'm always fascinated by the overlap in the blogosphere, but let me just say here that I am way excited to see you, Janet, and Anaglyph in the same comments box that isn't mine. (Not that I'm not excited to see the rest of you. I just don't know you all yet!)
Actually, I reserve going to sleep in middle of a conversation only for the most special and closest of friends. In a way, it's a compliment.
I really didn't mean it to sound like I was talking to Tyra Banks when I wrote this, this girl this is about probably knows what "forge" means in every Romance language and probably a few others.
Actually, Tyra never really calls me, but usually just drops by.
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