Sometimes you’re a helper, other times-not so much
Among my dad’s early spring rituals was putting up the screen house, and I’m guessing it wasn’t one of his favorite projects because he always seemed to put it off till the last minute.
I remember helping him out with the task in a big way one year when I was six.
The bugs swarmed us as we headed to the garage where the parts of the screen house were stored.
We got bitten more than a few times along the way.
Once inside the barn, we found some of the parts tucked away in a corner. The canvas roof was tucked into the tail of a rafter.
I helped my dad carry each section across the yard. He hooked up the hose and let me spray away the spider webs and mouse droppings he had loosened with a small brush.
I watched him struggle to fit the rubber section dividers into the tracks between each panel of the structure. I’m pretty sure he wanted to swear.
I helped him by holding up the long sections as he tried to thread them together. The pesky bugs got behind my ears and around my neckline. I swatted them away with one hand.
The biting got so bad that I gave a quick swat with both hands. I thought I was fast enough to grab ahold of the section of siding before it fell, but I was wrong. It dropped on dad’s head.
He didn’t say a word-he just gave me “the look.” From that point on I just let the bugs chew away at me because I wanted to be a good helper.
Once my dad fit all the sections together it was time to pull on the roof.
I’m not quite sure what happened, but the cover didn’t fit. No matter how hard my dad tried to stretch it, it was still about an inch short all the way around.
His face turned various shades of red as he controlled himself from yelling out a barrage of bad words. He stood on a short ladder and pulled at the roof with both hands.
I figured I should let him have some time to himself to let off some steam.
“I’m going inside for a minute,” I shouted.
I confess that the reason I went inside was mostly because I wanted to give my neck a break from the chewing bugs.
I settled in and caught Popeye Theater on Channel 3. Every now and again I peeked out the window to see how my dad was coming along.
My strategy must have worked. I saw that the roof was attached and I watched him as he tested the door. Opening and closing it several times, making sure it closed tightly to keep the pests away.
Mitch Lee, Adirondack native & storyteller, lives at Big Moose Lake.ltmitch3rdny@aol.com
