Ronnie, Lamar and Me

 

On the sixth day of suffocating heat and wet wool blanket humidity, Ronnie and Lamar arrive to save the day with a brand new central air unit. How I have not lost ten pounds is a mystery to me and I can’t remember being so glad to see a work crew. The climate gods are apparently feeling generous as this is the first overcast and relatively cool morning we’ve had in a week. The ancient York unit is disassembled and loaded onto a truck to go wherever old air conditioners go to die and by midday, a trim and clean looking Trane has taken its place. Cool air is suddenly flowing through the house. The dogs are delirious and I’m finally able to breathe without feeling like I’m underwater.

Ronnie and Lamar mask, glove and knee pad up then remove a section of
latticework and vanish into the depths of the under-the-house ductwork. They emerge late in the day, looking a lot like Kentucky coal miners after a mine collapse, pack their gear and tell me they’ll see me in the morning. They spend the entire second day navigating the dark, bug, debris and rat infested crawl spaces. Old ductwork is torn out and replaced, the new is wrapped and secured against rodents and other neighborhood wildlife. There there’s not much conversation but Ronnie whistles most of the time and Lamar raps along with the portable radio he sets up. It’s nasty work in a nasty environment, filthy, inhumanly hot, and awkward to move around in, but there’s not a word of complaint from either of them. I haven’t a clue how much they make per hour, but I’m absolutely certain it’s not enough for what they have to do. At some point late in the afternoon of the second day, I realize I don’t hear the radio anymore and when I go to look, I discover they’ve picked up all the trash and insulation and debris, replaced the latticework, re-locked the back gate and disappeared without a trace. Except for the blessed, quiet hum of the new unit, you’d never know they’d been there. I make a mental note to send them a positive review for their website. It’s too easy to criticize shoddy work or sullen workers – the good people need to be recognized and appreciated just as easily and as often.

We might all be better off if we still played in the dirt every now and then.