man at last shows up
having given me a window
of hours and days
between
nine a.m. and three p.m.,
Wednesday through Friday.
i see him get out of his truck
and pull
his pants up, weighted down
by a tool belt,
and a mess of wires
on his shoulder.
he walks past the front
door,
where i stand waving,
and goes to the back
of the house, so i run down
the stairs to go out
and unlock
the gate for him.
he asks me my service
number and i show him the printed
work order.
he says nothing
then gets to work.
no pleasantries at all.
i ask him if he wants water
or coffee,
and point towards the house
if he needs to use
the bathroom.
he says, ok,
squinting and rubbing his beard.
i say something like, nice weather
we're having, which gets no
response, then I
go back inside and
look out the window.
i see his hands buried
in the wall box, he's mumbling
to himself,
then he leaves for an hour
and comes back.
i ask him from the window
if everything is
okay.
he shrugs and says, no.
i make myself a lunch,
then try the tv, the phone,
the internet.
black, nothing. dead.
i pace the room
for awhile then
i go to the window, but he's
gone again.
the gate is closed, his
tools are gone,
his bundle of wires gone too.
i try the tv once more.
it's on.
everything is working
once again.
then i get a text from Verizon,
asking
me to rate the visit.
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