Making It Work

EJ and Pipo squat in the driveway

and poke their heads through

the wheel-well and pass

a half inch socket and WD 40

to my bloodied hand.

I shout out to them:

"The transmission cooler line

is completely shot,

and the thread

on the flare nut

is stripped bare—

it turns, but won't catch,

into the radiator.

In short: we're screwed."

I can hear them giggling

and splashing in the oily cold

puddle I am soaked in.

While Pipo runs to get

the extra red hose we used

to fix the heater on the bus,

I send EJ to get the cement

we used to fix the gasket

on the wood stove.

In my sarcophagus

under the old Buick wagon,

I fumble through my pockets

and find some hose clamps

that just might work.

EJ slathers the flare nut

in an icing of black glue.

And so Pipo can use

his beloved tape measure,

he cuts me a piece of red hose

18 ½ inches long—exactly.

There is no turning back now:

I cut out the old line

and jam the flare nut

into the fitting

until it sets.

For a few minutes, everything

is dead serious.

Pipo lays on his belly

and fits the 18 ½ inch hose

to the cleanly cut ends

of the cooler lines.

EJ takes his flathead

and tightens the hose clamps,

while I keep

the damn flare nut

from moving.

And in the stale air,

beneath a 1988 LeSabre Wagon—

soaked in mud, love, oil and anti-freeze—

I am the luckiest man alive.

~John Fitzsimmons