#Bob leads us to #Jesus in #Santa #Fe

Bob led us to Jesus.    Although, for most jobs, Bob does the work himself, bringing in his two teen-aged sons to provide additional muscle when necessary and even promising that his wife might be available.  But when the job is too technical or complicated, meaning painting or preserving wood, Bob promises that “the Mexicans” are perfect.  He means Jesus, a man who has been in America for three decades and who speaks English with an accent so heavy that he seems to be talking gibberish.   We hired Jesus to re-paint Grace’s office and to apply preservative to the wooden columns facing the New Mexican elements.

         The day of the preservation, Jesus, always dignified and a little shy, showed up with three other people, including his uncle, who read the newspaper all day when he wasn’t serving as the translator.  I think the rest of the crew included an uncle or a nephew and a friend.  With four people standing around and not doing much, they did resemble a Chicago street repair crew, with a foreman who does nothing, two to five others who stand around, watching or going for cigarettes, and one unlucky guy who slowly shovels dirt.

         Jesus somehow got it into his mind that we needed or wanted to stain the exposed exterior wood, although we did not suggest it.  I think he came upon that idea because, while looking through our somewhat vast collection of half-empty paint cans (scheduled for hazardous recycling but somehow never getting there), I found some stain that the original owner, Eric, the cheapest man on Earth, left because he probably could find no Earthly use for it in his new home.

         Not knowing what this murky, brownish liquid was, hoping that it was more preservative (we were told that the exposed exterior wood needed to be preserved every few years to prevent it from falling apart), I showed it to Jesus, who immediately exclaimed that this was stain.  Then he showed me how the stain would look if applied to the wood.

         On the advice of Bob, who was standing by observing our transaction, and after a warning look from Grace that said, “Keep the cost of the job as low as possible,” I said, “No stain.”

         But Jesus was very enthusiastic.  He began to shout and jump about, “Stain.  So simple.  First, stain; then, preserve.  No?”

         “NO,” I said.  “No stain.”

         Bob backed me up, “Listen, Jesus, no stain.  Just preserve.  But no stain.”

         Grace said, “No stain.”