chairs reglued in an election year

I've been taking furniture to Mr. Cilek for repairs for a long tome now. You may have seen the sign in his front yard on Randolph, a block or so east of Snelling: "Chairs Reglued". That's what he does.

This last time, I made Ms Susan take the busted chair in to him. This was kind of scary for her, something that she'd never done before. But hey...it's right on her way to work and if she's smart, and I'm not saying she isn't, she could swing through PJ Murphy's Bakery for a couple of raspberry bismarcks on the way down the hill to Monroe. That's what I'd do if I had to drop off a chair to be reglued at Cilek's and then had to end up at Monroe for an action-packed and satisfying day of teaching 4th graders. I'd fortify myself any way I could and I see raspberry bismarcks as a worthwhile addition to the fortifying arsenal. But I head northwest to work and Cilek's Furniture repair is south and east.

I went to pick up the chair today after Susan had dropped it off on Monday. I'd been assigned the southern loop of the string of errands that had to be run prior to hosting Easter dinner tomorrow. Cilek's for the chair, Walgreen's for a prescription and some plastic eggs for the egg hunt, the tailor's shop down in Highland (that's sort of a contradiction in terms but, after all, I'm talking St. Paul) to pick up a mended sport coat and then to Widmer's for the big-ass 20 lb. ham for dinner tomorrow. Miz Susan got to head east for bread at Great Harvest and then the co-op and I'll bet she managed to stick her head into a couple of other shops along the way. She probably got the easier trip but I'm not complaining.

For my first stop, I pulled up to the garage that serves as Mr. Cilek's shop. I went right on in (the sign says to do that) but no one was home. Susan had told me that, despite her initial fear of the unknown, she felt right at home in Mr. Cilek's workshop. The clutter and the cramped quarters and the general cave-like ambiance reminded her right away of her dad's bicycle shop masquerading as a garage in Lamberton. She's right. The same interior decorator could have drawn up the plans for both garages.

After looking around and taking in a few choruses of Nat King Cole on the little boom box, I headed for the back door of the house to see if anyone was home. Mr. Cilek, or one of his people, had phoned this morning to tell us that the chair was ready so I suspected that someone would be around. Sure enough, he greeted me almost immediately at the back door and said that he'd be right out. That routine never changes. It's almost as if can sense that someone is at his back door with a chair that needs to be reglued or to pick one up that's already been reglued. But he'll rarely come out to his workshop to find out who in hell the latest idiot is who's rummaging around in his stuff. To be formally noticed, you need to observe the proprieties and knock on the back door.

He showed up in the workshop within a minute or so with some words of praise as to what a sporty little ride the Camry looked to be. I wasn't about to argue that one. He flicked off the boombox, where Nat King Cole had moved on to "Almost Like Being in Love", with an explanation that it wasn't his kind of music. Okay then. I wrote him a check after asking, like I always do, to whom I should write it. I suggested "Eugene Cilek?" and he liked that idea. Not "Cilek Furniture Repair" or "Cilek's" but almost always, "Eugene Cilek". I tried to play like I had the faintest idea of how he reglued chairs and got slapped down for suggesting bolts and we got to talking about how long he'd been at his trade and how long I'd been bringing him chairs to be reglued. He told me that he'd opened up shop in 1960 the day after he got married and I figured out that I must have first come to him in about 1975 with the old dining room table I'd bought from Jim Franklin back in the West Publishing days. That table is still in the family over at Alison and Tomas's nowadays. I suppose that he's had repeat customers for longer than my 35 years but 35 years is a pretty good run. If nothing else, I'm loyal. I'd be going to Henry's Shoe Repair down on Grand Avenue if he still had the store and I remember buying sneakers in there with my mom back into the early 60's. Just about the same time Gene Cilek was opening the door to his workshop out behind his house on Randolph.

As I was getting ready to race off in the sporty little Camry, Mr. Cilek gave me one of his business cards. He'd scrawled 1130 AM and something else on the back of his card. He urged me to check out Sean Hannity on the station. Just listen to Hannity twice and I'd be convinced, he told me. And Rush Limbaugh, too. Like I said before, OK then. Maybe he was kidding or confused. When I'd pointed out to him that it was Nat King Cole whom he'd cut off earlier, he admitted that he really did like him.

So here's this long-time associate, a trusted contributor to the workings of the family business. He's right up there with Brian, the Schwan's delivery guy. But from what I heard today, Mr. Cilek with his political outlook would probably see my upcoming vote for Amy Klobuchar as something no better than a vote for Madame Mao. We parted agreeing to agree to that it was good to be able to listen to what we wanted to in this country. Even if he didn't seem to like the long-term future for that privilege.

I say it over and over again. Is this a great country or what? And if Mr. Cilek can try to convert his customers, I guess I can, too. I'm encouraging anyone who's reading this to vote no in November against all of those obnoxious proposed constitutional amendments which the Republicans and their big business sponsors are cluttering the ballot up with. And encourage your friends and neighbors to do likewise, too. Or not to vote on them at all. Isn't non-vote the same as a no vote?

I'm not going toe to toe with Mr. Cilek, though. Even pushing 80, he can probably beat me up. And I might need to go back to him if I've ever got any more chairs that need to be reglued.