The way Tanya saw it, getting a new carpet in her Arizona Room would be an easy task. There were no tricky corners to consider. The room measured only sixteen feet wide by sixty feet deep. Anyone with any experience laying carpet should be able to complete the job in a few hours. She was wrong.
Tanya Sawyer lived in Wander In, an active adult community in Arizona. Her home, or more precisely, her trailer, was older, but still in great shape. She kept it that way. Tanya took pride in her home, and strived to keep it looking good. When the powder blue carpet in the Arizona Room began to show signs of age, she decided to replace it with carpet that looked nicer and didn’t look like it was installed in the 1980s, which it was. Over coffee one morning with her friends Henrietta Henderson and Gloria Stoom, Tanya Talked about her desire to update the carpet.
“I thought about hardwood flooring, but I just love the feel of carpet under my feet. I just need something that doesn’t show the dirt so much.”
Gloria replied first. “A nice Berber would work. Maybe taupe or something to hide the sand that blows in when haboobs occur.”
Henrietta added, “That will sure cut down on carpet cleaning.”
Tanya agreed. “Every time I clean my blue carpet, the water is almost black. Taupe Berber it is. I was thinking of calling the Fix It Men in the park to get the job done.”
The Fix It Men is a loosely formed group of men who live in Wander In. They are mostly old codgers and aging duffs who are bored with retirement, love to get out of their houses, usually at the requests of their wives, and consider themselves wannabe repairmen. When residents of the park need small jobs done and they don’t want to pay too much money, they call the Fix It Men. The men occupy a small room next to the woodshop, where they mostly sit around, drink coffee, and tell war stories, otherwise known as lies, while waiting for jobs.
As soon as her friends left, Tanya called the Fix It Men. Carl Fife answered.
“Hello. Fix It Men here. You need a man – we gotta plan. This is Carl speaking.”
Tanya recognized Carl’s voice. She knew him from around the park as a kind-hearted, easy-going individual who spoke a good line but had seen better days. She also knew that Carl was a bit absent minded, but honest.
“Hi Carl. This is Tanya Sawyer. I’m looking for someone who can install a new carpet into my Arizona Room. Is that something the Fix It Men can do?”
“You’ve called the right number. In fact, I’ve installed many carpets in my days. Just installed one for Ben Campbell a few weeks ago.”
“Great.” Tanya said. “When can you install a carpet in my Arizona Room? And how much will it cost?”
Carl thought for a moment. “If you can get the carpet delivered by next week, I can install it then. I figure it’ll cost about two hundred bucks for me to pull up the old stuff, put down new padding, and then the new carpet. I’ll need you to remove the moulding, but I can reinstall it. Sound good?”
“That sounds wonderful. I’ll let you know when I know when the carpet will arrive. Thanks for your time, Carl.”
The carpet arrived the following Friday and Tanya called Carl to arrange for the work. Carl told Tanya the upcoming Tuesday is the only day he could come.
“I have a few appointments in town on Tuesday, but you can work then. I’ll leave the door unlocked and the carpet and pad on the deck.”
Carl agreed. The date was set. Tanya looked forward to having the new carpet finally installed.
Tuesday morning arrived. Tanya sat on her front porch, enjoying a cup of coffee before heading out of the park. The morning was quiet. A few golf carts passed by, their occupants waving hello to Tanya. In the distance, she could her the cooing of doves, which always made Coco, her pet parakeet excited.
“Simmer down.” Tanya said, turning around to see Coco hopping around in her cage. “I’ll be leaving soon and you won’t hear the other birds talking about their freedom.”
Tanya finished her coffee, made sure everything Carl needed was on the porch, and drove away. Twenty minutes later, Carl arrived. He surveyed the Arizona Room, made sure he had everything he needed, and started the task. Tanya had removed the wall moulding. It didn’t take him long to move a few small pieces of furniture. He had the old carpet and pad removed in less than an hour. He made a sweep of the room, looking for any nails or staples that might be protruding from the floor. When we was satisfied he’d removed them all, he laid the new pad down and using his staple gun, secured it to the subfloor. Next, he muscled the new carpet into the room, rolled it out, and pushed the far end onto the existing tack strip. He stretched the carpet out, making it snug and smooth. It looked good, so he secured the rest to the other tack boards. Satisfied with his work, he re-installed the moulding trim and replaced the steps that led to the trailer. He made one more pass to examine his work and gather his tools. That’s when he noticed a lump in the carpet, close to the back door.
“Well, I’ll be.” he muttered to himself. “Looks like I missed a nail.”
He grabbed his hammer and gave the nail three good whacks. Pound, pound, pound. The carpet was flat as a pancake, as it should be, and he was again happy with his work. He packed everything up, hooped in his truck, and drove back to the Fix It Men shop.
Carl was still at the shop, drinking lukewarm coffee with Horace and Grant, his two friends and fellow Fix It men. His phone rang. He recognized the number as Tanya’s.
“Hi Tanya. This is Carl. How does the carpet look?”
Tanya confirmed that the job Carl finished looked very professional. She then started asking Carl some questions. Carl sat on the phone, nodding his head, and repeating, “Um hum, Yes Ma’am, I see, No Ma’am.” After a few minutes, Tanya ended the call.
“What was that all about?” Horace asked Carl. “Did she like your work?”
“Oh yeah.” Carl said. She thinks it looks very nice.”
“What else did she want?” Grant inquired.
“Well, she asked me if I’d seen a little parakeet flying around while I worked. I told her I didn’t. I mean, what does she think I am, a pet-sitter?”