Things I Learned Before Coffee

“Okay… pop quiz,” I hear behind me as I begin to prep coffee.

I turn to find Drew holding three tools. 

“Name each tool,” he dares. 

I can do this. I’ve been training for this.

I know immediately his left hand is holding a hammer.

“Hammer,” I point. A total lay up. 

He nods and smirks, knowing we’re about to level up.

The next object is a flat, heavy no-nonsense slab of metal.

I recognize it from the demo he’s been working on. He uses it to shimmy under the corner of the floor tile and when he pulls it - prys it - back, the floor piece breaks away.

“Pry bar!” I yell enthusiastically. “Wait - flat bar?” I second guess myself. 

“Yes - both,” he turns the tool so I can see how thin it is, “but a flat bar is a better name. All flat bars are pry bars, but not all pry bars are flat bars.”

I make a mental note. This feels like something that will absolutely be on the final exam.

The last tool eludes me. I look at it quizzically. 

“Hold it,” he offers, knowing how visceral, physical memory is just as important to recall.

It’s heavier than I expect, with long handles and a kind of alligator mouth that opens wider the more you shift it.

I turn it over in my hands, thinking about what the tool could be used for.

“It’s…a grippy thing,” I laugh at my earnestness.

“It is a grippy thing,” he encourages. But I’m stumped.

He reclaims the mystery tool and points to the grooves that angle the size of the opening.

“This is a channel lock. See here? These are the channels.”

He demonstrates how the jaws open wider or narrower depending on which groove you use. 

“Like a super adjustable pair of pliers?” I observe.

“Bingo.”

I can’t help but smile as I imagine accepting my beginner’s certificate in tool competence like a proud graduate with their diploma.

Maybe later.

For now, I turn back to the coffee.