Too Early for Drama

This day is getting off to a rough start.

See, yesterday I hired a guy named Quickdraw to fix up our gutter.

This morning, we were awoken by a call from our next door neighbor, Craig. Seems Quickdraw had borrowed Craig’s ladder. Only in Craig’s estimation, Quickdraw was too drunk to be climbing on the roof. So Craig took his ladder back.

There was some confusion, during which time Quickdraw thought the ladder had been stolen. Eventually he spotted the ladder back in Craig’s yard and was about to get it. I had to explain to him that Craig had taken back the ladder because he didn’t think Quickdraw fit to work on the roof.

“It’s your roof,” Quickdraw pointed out.

“Yes, but it’s his ladder.”

I had to explain that Craig thought Quickdraw had been drinking. Quickdraw denied this. I don’t know what to think. He didn’t seem drunk to me.

He said he’d borrow a friend’s ladder and be back in a couple hours.

Update: This comedy of errors got even more erroneous. Quickdraw came back with a ladder all right. I assumed it was his friend’s ladder. Then I get a call from Craig, who informed me that the ladder in question was his ladder, the very same disputed item which he’d offered to Quickdraw and then taken back. Apparently Quickdraw just went into Craig’s yard and took it.

Now, the gutter damage I mentioned was caused by a tree on Craig’s property, which was rubbing against our gutter and damaging our roof. (Houses are crammed really close together in our neighborhood.) So part of Quickdraw’s job was to cut back this tree, and he was doing so. (Of course he didn’t have a saw of his own. He borrowed mine.) One huge branch fell right onto the path from Craig’s front door, effectively trapping him on his property. He was trying to leave, but he couldn’t escape until Quickdraw sawed the branch into smaller pieces.

Anyway, our gutter is fixed, mostly, and the tree won’t do any further damage. As far as I’m concerned, Quickdraw earned his money. (I paid him $80.) It was a hot day. I was soaked with sweat just running around hauling some of those branches to the curb. I can’t imagine what it was like up on that roof, sawing.

And I don’t think he’d been drinking at all.