A New Mower!

My poor son Sam spent a lot of time mowing the lawn with a busted up mower.

I’m not one for mechanical matters so even though we only broke the handle, we didn’t have the bolts to fix it.

Then there was the hole in the deck and the trouble we had in lowering or raising the deck.

It was an old mower and it should’ve been junked back in 2019 but we just didn’t get around to it in 2020.

So, comically, every time we mowed the lawn we bitched about the mower.

And still, nothing happened.

Here in 2021, I was the unlucky guy who went out to mow the lawn on Saturday.

I was laughing a bit as I struggled through the task. I passed Sam as I headed in:

“How’s she running?” He asked.

We both laughed.

“That’s the last time we will mow the lawn with that mower.”

It was on my mind on Tuesday as I worked. I would swing by Home Depot and get a brand new one.

I was up in the Falls when I passed the house.

There were a dozen mowers decorating a man’s front lawn. I slammed on the brakes and pulled in.

“You’re selling these?” I asked.

He looked at me like I was the dumbest bastard ever.

One looked to be brand new.

“I have to sell them,” he said. “I’m moving. The landlord sold the house right out from under me. I’m going to be homeless by the end of the month.”

Not much of a starting point to negotiate him down on price.

He started the one I was looking at. It was the exact model as the one we’d had.

He mentioned the selling price. It was a third of what I’d pay at Home Depot.

“Is it new?” I asked.

“Pretty much.”

I wasn’t going to ask him where he got it. It was none of my business.

I handed him the money and he helped me load it into my car. I gave him an extra $20 so he could find a new home. The guy thanked me a hundred times.

“We have a new mower,” I said to Sam as I came into the house.

“I’m still using the old one,” he said.

I don’t think he will.

Now if I can somehow restring the weed whacker.