Chapter 4 mr coffee and mr repair

Something happened to me during that time.I'm going to stay with my mother for a few nights.When I got to the top of the stairs, I looked in and saw her sitting on the couch kissing a man.It was summer then.The door is open.The TV was on too.This is one of those things that happens to me. My mother is sixty-five years old.She belongs to a singles club.Still, it's unacceptable.I stood there on the railing and watched the man kiss her.She was kissing him back and the TV was on. Things are much better now.But at that time, during the time my mother was messing with other people, I lost my job.My kids are going crazy, my wife is going crazy.She's messing around with other people too.The guy she fucked was an out-of-work aerospace engineer she'd met from Alcoholics Anonymous.He is also crazy.

His name is Ross and he has six children.He walks with a limp, thanks to a shot from his first wife. I really don't know what we were thinking at that time. This guy's second wife came and went, but it was the first wife who shot him for not paying child support.I now hope that he Everything is fine.rose.What a name!But back then it wasn't like it is now, when I used to mention weapons a lot.I'd say to my wife, "I want to get a Smith & Wesson," but I never did. Ross is a small man.But not particularly short.He has a mustache and always wears a wool sweater buttoned up to his chin.

One of his wives sent him to prison.The second wife did it.I learned from my daughter that my wife bailed him out.My daughter Melody is as disgusted as I am by this, the bail thing.Not that Melody was protecting me, she wasn't protecting either of us, her mother or me.It was just a matter of money, and if part of the money went to Rose, Melody wouldn't get that part.So Rose was on Melody's blacklist.Also, she didn't like his kids and the fact that he had so many kids.But in general, Melody thinks Ross is okay. He even told her fate once. When this guy named Ross lost his regular job, he spent his time fixing things.But I've seen his house from the outside.That's a mess.Rubbish was piled everywhere.There were two broken-down Plymouths parked in the yard.

They were dating around the time my wife claimed this guy had a collection of vintage cars.These are her exact words, "antique cars".But they are nothing more than scrap metal. I have his phone number.Repair Mr. But we have something in common, me and Rose, not just the same woman.For example, when that TV was jumping out of the picture, he couldn't fix it.I can't fix it either.Sound can be heard, but no picture.If we want to know the news, we have to sit around a screen and listen to it. Rose and Myrna met when Myrna was trying to quit drinking.She goes to abstainers' meetings, I estimate, three or four times a week.I myself went to take a break for a while.But when Myrna met Rose, I was binge drinking.Myrna goes to a party, then goes to Ross's house to help him cook and clean.His children never cared about these things.Except for my wife, there is no one in Mr. Repair's house who is willing to raise his arms.

This all happened not long ago, maybe three years ago.It was a rough time. I left my mother and the man sitting on the sofa and drove around for a while.When I got home, Mana went to make me coffee. She went to the kitchen to make coffee and I waited for her to boil the water.Then I reached for the wine bottle under the seat cushion. I thought maybe Myrna really loved that man.But there was something else with him—a twenty-two-year-old girl named Beverly.For a little guy in a button-up cardigan, Mr. Fixer wasn't bad at all. He started to go downhill when he was thirty-five or six years old.Lost the job and picked up the wine bottle.I used to laugh at him every chance I got, but I don't laugh at him anymore.

May God bless you, Mr. Repair. He told Melody that he had done work on the moon.He told my daughter he was good friends with the astronauts.He told her he'd introduce the astronauts as soon as they came here. There's the modern operation, the aerospace-related place where Mr. Fixer worked.I've seen that place, the long lines in the restaurant, the dining room of the upper management, etc.Every office has "Mr. Coffee" ④. Mana said he was interested in things like astrology, premonitions, and the I Ching.I have no doubt that this Ross is smart and interested enough, like most of my past friends.I told Myrna she wouldn't care about him if he wasn't like that.

Eight years ago, my father died drunk in his sleep.It was Friday noon and he was fifty-four years old.He came home from get off work at the sawmill, got some sausages from the refrigerator for breakfast, and opened a large bottle of Four Roses. My mother sat at the same table.She was writing to her sister in Little Rock.Eventually, my dad got up and got into bed.My mother said he didn't say goodnight.But it was morning, of course not. "Baby," I said to Myrna the night she came back. "Let's hug for a while, and then you go cook us a nice dinner." Myrna said, "Go wash your hands."

① Alcoholics Anonymous (Alcoholics Anonymous) is a mutual aid organization in the United States. Alcoholics achieve the purpose of abstaining from alcohol by participating in regular meetings. ②A brand of pistol. ③A car brand. ④ Mr. Coffee (Mr.Coffee) is a brand of coffee machines.Carver here uses "Mr. Coffee" as a metaphor for Ross's past corporate career, and uses this to contrast with his later career-"Mr. Repair". ⑤The name of a spirit.