"It runs so rich that I have to change the plugs twice a month."
The old man chuckled heartily, his pipe tremorous, sideways between his big teeth.
"Problem is my socket was made cheaply, so the rubber boot fell right off when I put a little torque on the second plug."
The old man smiled, drew on his pipe, and moved into the garage.
It was hot out. The pond across the way was pretty and glittering in its basin, reeds all jutting up toward the road in shocks of green. There was a big old pine forest stretched up the hill beyond the water where we used to walk sometimes when we were kids. There were winding trails through it and one big clearing in the middle where the ground was beat into dunes and there was a ridge dug into one of hills where you could sit and look out over the trees.
Kids at school used to talk about how the place was haunted and all, because there had been an old Tuberculosis facility on the grounds which was rumoured to have been converted into a psychiatric hospital before its late demolition. Kids talk a bunch of shit. I kind of always thought I was the only person in school who wasn't a genuine dumbass.
"Try this one on your wrench," he said, furrowing his brow under his glasses.
"I've got some breaker bars in there too, if you need some leverage."
"Thanks a lot."
"Good luck."
