Flintkote
Copyright© 2020 by Old Man with a Pen
Chapter 80
Tyche
“Frank, Ernie ... what’s the ‘evening’ menu?”
Rather than tell me, Ernie passed me a menu and directed me to a table ... not a stool at the bar. I was astonished.
The menu was in French ... and the heading was Joyeux anniversaire, vendredi, Tyche Selene Flintkote. Le menu du jour est tous vos préférés Choux de Bruxelles grillés, salade d’épinards, côte de bœuf avec frites au four et asperges. fini avec une banane fendue. Pour boire, nous avons notre célèbre Root beer. Vendredi, c’est aussi Halloween.
A banner unrolled from behind the bar ... Happy Birthday Tyche!
“Surprise! And they all popped in and from behind the bar and out of the kitchen. JW, Zoe, Cynthiamae and Billy. All the crew from the “Flint,” half the town, all the sailboat Hispanics and Surprise and Alan. I was shocked ... a surprise party on my birthday was expected ... one a week early had me thoroughly a flutter.
And the presents ... every tool mentioned in the assembly instructions and more. Especially welcome was the 12 foot sheet metal brake and the Eastwood English wheel. I would be able to make long bends and complex curves.
After the party, Alan and Surprise took me home. Alan used the laser level to check the floor. It was level. We started on the construction table.
I hauled 2x4’s ... one at a time ... hey ... I’m still just 4 ... for a week. I helped. That’s about it. I have a feeling this is going to be harder than I thought. Between us, we built a worktable 49 inches wide and 20 feet long. I did a lot of holding while Alan put in a lot of drywall screws and a few bolts. Then I stapled the Fokker paper to the work surface. Alan held it down while I used a ‘slap stapler’ to hold it flat.
Then it was my turn. My kit came with full size plans. I didn’t have to do expanded squares. But I did check for clarity. Muddy plans weren’t anything I wanted to deal with. It looked good and measured out as correct. We started on the fuselage sides by screwing down blocks made from the plywood container sides. We cut the strips with the secondhand Rigid table saw, and the blocks from the strips with the second hand Milwaukee chop saw.
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