"Roger, are you terribly busy this afternoon?"
My sister was all sweetness and light. This meant that she wanted something, something that I could supply.
"Apparently I am now," I said with a sigh. "What do you need help with?"
"It's just a small job," she quickly assured me. "Naomi has a new smart TV, a big one, and she wants it mounted on the wall of the front room. She has the bracket and everything. She just needs someone to attach the bracket and fix the tellie to it. I thought of you straight off. The job might have been made for you."
"Alright. Give me the address and I'll be there about one." It was easier to just agree and do the job. I'd waste far more time trying to get out of it. Debbie clung like a leech when she wanted you to do something, especially if she thought you were tailor made for the job.
I fronted up almost bang on one. Debbie's car was out the front and another parked next to the unit, Naomi's I assumed. I headed for the door and leaned on the buzzer.
Naomi came rushing out, practically dancing she was so happy.
"Roger," she squealed, giving me a quick kiss and a bear hug. "Thank you, thank you, thank you. The tellie is an engagement present. I can't wait to see what it looks like."
I entered the flat, giving a wave to Debbie.
"Let me see the goodies," I said. "I want to make sure that you've got all the bits and pieces."
The stand was a standard heavy duty stand, complete with wall attachments. I had some spares in my toolbox just in case. I checked the stand against the back of the tellie and there was no problem. The stand would go on with no problems.
"OK, Naomi. There should be no problems whatsoever. Half an hour at most."
"Thanks, brother, you're the best," said Debbie. "Just close and lock the door when you've finished."
I raised an eyebrow, giving her a quizzical look.
"Naomi and I are going shopping. We have to get things for the engagement party. We'll probably be gone for hours."
In my opinion if the things they had to get included new dresses for the party they could easily be gone for days, but I didn't mention that. Debbie punches too hard. I just nodded and wished them well.
Attaching the front half of the stand to the tellie was five minutes work. Simply screw it on and it was done. Attaching the back half to the wall was going to take a little longer. I wanted to be sure that at least one side of the stand was bolted directly onto a stud. Fastening all points directly to plaster was just asking for the whole thing to rip loose.
I found a convenient stud and drilled into it. That done I was able to fasten one side of the stand to the wall, and that wasn't going to come off very easily. Then it was a case of drilling holes for the other side into the plaster, sliding in expanding sockets, and then screwing in the remainder of the bolts, the sockets expanding to grip the plaster tightly. That done the job was effectively finished. All I had to do was lift the tellie and slid the two halves of the mount together.
That's when the doorbell rang. I answered it and as soon as I opened the door this little pixie came barging in.
"Hi," she said, her voice like music. "Tell Naomi I'm here, will you. I've heard all about her engagement and I'm dying to talk to her about it."
I looked her over. Blonde, with big blue eyes. How do girls make their eyes look so large? She stood about five foot six, her hair came down to her shoulders, slender of figure but with nice hips. As for her bust, it should be illegal for a little girl like her to have such a bust. She wasn't shy about showing it off, either.
Where clothing was concerned she had on a short skirt that showed of long and shapely legs. Her top was some sort of blouse that had a neckline that crossed about halfway down her breasts, showing a lot of creamy bosom. I couldn't help wondering just how close to her nipples that blouse came.
"Well, I'd be delighted to meet you if I knew who you were," I told her. "Also, there are a couple of things that I feel I should mention. First of all I'm Roger, handyman extraordinaire. I'm currently mounting the tellie to the wall, as per Naomi's instructions. I'll get back to that in a moment. Unfortunately Naomi has gone down the street with Debbie and I don't know how soon they'll be back."
"Oh. Remiss of me. I'm Suzy, an old friend of Naomi's. I thought I'd surprise her. She has no idea that I'm in town. "You don't mind if I wait a little to see if she returns?"
"No, that's fine with me," I assured her. "Seeing you're willing to wait I'll get back to the tellie I mentioned. I'm about to attach the two halves of the mount together and it will be a lot simpler if I have someone who can eyeball it and tell me if I have it aligned properly."
She looked rather taken aback at that.
"Ah what do I have to do," she asked dubiously.
"It's easy enough," I told her. "I'll just lift the tellie and slide this part of the bracket onto that part of the other bracket. If I have it lined up properly then it should just glide into place and that is that. I have pencil lines to give me a good idea of where I have to place it but if you could just watch behind the tellie and tell me if I'm not quite lined up?"
"Oh. Okay. That should be easy enough."
I picked up the tellie and the damn thing was heavy. I moved closer to the wall, keeping an eye on my markers.
"How's it look?" I asked when I thought it was about right.
"Ah, lift it up just a little bit and come a tiny bit closer to the wall."
"That's it," she said happily and I moved the tellie sidewards, feeling the two sides mesh, and then the two halves of the stand just slid together. I slowly released my hold and the whole thing stayed right where it was. A little shake didn't move anything and I relaxed. A quick glance assured me that it was snug and I reached for the locking bar and slid it into place. Now it would take a deliberate effort to take it down.
"Thank you, Suzy. If you hadn't been here it might have taken another ten, fifteen minutes to mesh the two parts. I'm going to get a beer. Can I get you anything?"
"Possibly a little wine if you have any?"
I came back with two glasses of white wine.
"Someone has pinched the beer," I grumbled. "Wine will have to do."
We sipped our wine and chatted. I finally raised the subject of her leaving.
"I can stick around for a little while to see if Naomi gets back, but I have an appointment in about an hour. I have to go try on a tux. Horrible things. Would you like me to ring her and get her to come home?"
"Oh, no. Don't do that," Suzy said quickly. "It would ruin the surprise."
"Fair enough, but when I do leave you'll also have to leave if she's not back. I mean, I don't really know you and I'd be remiss to leave a stranger in the house when I leave."
"I understand. When you have to leave I'll just toddle along."
"Ok. Now I have a question. By all means tell me if you think I'm too far out of line."