There are blisters
all over my left hand
The old lady needed help landscaping
and she said she’d pay pretty good
So I showed up
without gloves
not knowing what she was going to have me do
I was helping her redo a path
at a home
she owned
in a private neighborhood
in this rich-ass town
Roots
from a tree
were raising the steps
and the brick boundaries
of the little gravel path
that went from the front yard
to the back
She had two shovels
and an ax
for me to work with
She assumed I’d bring gloves
It turned out,
the roots underneath the path
were huge
and I needed the ax
She said she had an extra pair of gloves for me
but she didn’t think they would fit
I told her that I have pretty tough hands
and that I thought that I would be alright without them
Well,
it turns out,
lifting weights every now-and-then
and being a fighter
doesn’t do shit
when your swinging an ax at giant tree roots
underground
for
2 hours
I really thought my hands were tough enough
for manual labor
which I haven't really done
in years
And now
I have these four huge blisters on my left hand
I’m headed back today
to finish the job
and before I went to sleep last night
The little rich lady sent me a text
telling me
that she
went to the store
and bought me some new gloves
Bless her soul
The young are so quick to point out the mistakes that the elderly made
and the older folks
are so quick
to spot arrogance—mixed with naivety—in the young.
We balance the other out somehow.
-C.H. 7/8/23