Previous Challenge Entry (Level 4 – Masters)
Topic: Board - Bored (01/12/23)
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TITLE: Summer Wisdom | Previous Challenge Entry
By Hannah Gaudette
01/16/23 -
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"Something bothering you?"
I scowled at the board he’d told me to hammer into the damaged section of his barn. “Grandpa, you asked me to hammer one board for you.”
“I did,” he sighed melodramatically.
“That was five boards ago.” I dropped my hammer to the ground and held my smarting hand.
Grandpa took off his hat, wiped the sweat from his forehead. “Good counting. You’re good at math, your mom says.”
“Are we going to fix the whole wall?” I stared dubiously at the barn that should have been torn down after the fire.
“You getting bored, Jeremy?” A grin stretched his face. “Get it? Bored with hammering the boards?”
I didn’t laugh. “Grandpa . . . you can hire someone to do this.”
“I could. But then you and I wouldn’t get this quality time together. And my poor cows would have to wait weeks for those contractors to get off their butts and keep the wind out of those stalls.”
I shook my head. My grandfather was impossible. We’d come up here for two days, and he’d put me to work. Why?
“Sit down, Jeremy.” He plopped himself onto an overturned bucket.
I sat on a box. It creaked. Do not break, you miserable thing.
“What would you be doing now, back home?” Grandpa asked.
I didn’t have to think very hard. “Probably hanging out with the guys. Gaming.”
“What do you want to do with your life?”
Big question. Fortunately, I had an answer. “I want to get my degree in computer animation.”
Grandpa nodded. “Good. There’s good money there, probably. Hard work, though, right?”
“Sure.”
Grandpa took his hammer and tapped one of the new boards with it. “What about this - is this hard work?”
I bit back a sigh. “Yup.”
“So what makes you think you can handle college? Exams? Hours of studying? Classes that don’t have anything to do with computer animation, but you still have to pass them?”
“That’s different.”
“Listen to me, Jeremy.” He leaned forward like his lecture was going to continue. “Work is work. And you will be judged by how you handle work. Whether on computers or in barns, your hammer better not stop swinging if you want to make something of your life.”
I looked around the farmyard with a frown. “Have you? Made something of your life?”
“Yes,” he answered without hesitation. “This farm is my work. One job is not more important than another. It’s what you put your hands to that matters.”
Grandpa stood and fetched another board. “Hold this.”
I stood and cradled the overlong plank.
“If you’re a carpenter, you’d carve it. If you work in a paper mill, you’d pulp it. If you’re a computer animator, you’d create a three-dimensional one for a video game. It doesn’t matter what you do, it’s how you do it that determines your future. And if you can fix this wall or get yourself through college, you’ll be judged by how well you did the job.”
The board suddenly felt heavier in my hands, like the weight of the rest of my life. I wouldn’t admit it to Grandpa, but there had been so many days I lost interest in computer animation, lost interest in college. Telling people I was going to get a degree was impressive.
But that didn’t matter if I didn’t do it.
I looked Grandpa in the eyes. “I will.”
His brows quirked. “Will what?”
“Work harder.”
His gaze softened. “Good man.” He squeezed my shoulder. “Enjoyment and talent will only get you so far. You need a good hammer for the rest.”
I grinned. “So . . . should we finish this wall?”
~ ~ ~ ~
Grandpa’s words stayed with me the rest of my life. I got that degree. Grandpa came to my graduation.
With tears in his eyes, he said, “Well done, Jeremy.”
He died a few months later. Had a stroke while caring for the cows. I don’t think he would have had it any other way.
Years later, when I went to church for the first time by my girlfriend’s invitation, I heard a verse from the Bible.
Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men.
I suppose my grandpa lived by that verse.
*Fiction
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