Day 5: Dan and His Search for the Perfect Pair of Tweezers

Dan climbed the steps on his front porch and entered his house through his thoroughly cleaned front door.  He sat on the staircase and untied his shoes, pulled them off, and carefully shoved the shoelaces inside.  He climbed the ten steps to the upstairs and turned left into the kitchen.  He instantly went to the polished table and sat down.

Rows upon rows of tweezers lay on the table in perfect order from biggest to smallest.  He had prepared this yesterday when he knew he would be finishing the fence in his backyard, which meant he would surely get a sliver of some size.

Dan had been correct and that was why he now sat at the table in his kitchen.  He studied the rows of tweezers with a magnifying glass to find the correct size.  Every now and then, he would pick a pair up and measure them against his sliver.  Dan was always very careful to place the tweezers back where they belonged straight and even with the rest of them.  Finally, after browsing through the rows, Dan found the right pair.  He reached for it and smiled. 

Someone knocked on the door.

Dan jumped up knocking his knee on the table and sending his chair careening backwards.  He limped to the door red in the face and trying not to scream.  Dan reached the door and opened it, massaging his throbbing knee at the same time.

“Hello,” said the man at the door, “my name is Phil Hill and I’m a door to door salesman.  Would you be interested in buying a pare of tweezers?”  The man pulled a large pair from his pocket.  “This pair will be yours for just nine-ninety-nine.”

Dan snatched the tweezers from Phil Hill’s hand and gauged to see whether they would be the correct size or not.  They weren’t. 

Dan handed the pare of tweezers back to Phil Hill and closed the door.  Ten steps up and two to the left and he was back in the kitchen.  Dan shrieked. 

When he had bashed his knee on the table pairs of tweezers had flown in every direction in the kitchen.  The ones left on the table were crooked and not in their designated place.

It took an hour and a half for Dan to restore his setup to how it had been.  Now he had to find the correct pare of tweezers again.  This took another half an hour, but Dan finally spotted the correct pair and went to grab it.

First, the ground began shaking and then the house and then the table.   The tweezers rattled and bounced and the pair of tweezers Dan was about to grab, jumped from his reach and into the pile of to other tweezers shifting around.

The earthquake only lasted about ten seconds, but it was enough to ruin Dan’s set up again. 

It only took an hour for Dan to put everything in it’s designated place again, for the second time.  It only took him ten minutes to find the correct pair of tweezers. 

He smiled as he reached to pull the sliver out of his hand.  His smile disappeared as he  looked at the sliver.  He laid the tweezers on the table and poked the sliver.  It stuck to his finger. 

All this time it hadn’t been a sliver, but a thin piece of thread disguised as a sliver.

Dan smacked his forehead against the table.

Tweezers shifted and moved.

Dan groaned.