Monday, May 22, 2023
Once outside of Artie and Dorothy's house on Nassau Parkway, Kenny wanted to show me how to do a routine auto repair. Let's say it was how to replace the brake shoes on his car. I couldn't have been more than 14 or 15 years old at the time. Unfortunately, the wrench he was using was defective and it kept slipping off the nut, so that the "routine" repair became anything but. As time went by, Kenny became increasingly irate. Amidst a stream of obscenities, I heard him mutter something along the lines of, "crappy tools ... messing up my work!" Then, taking out his full fury on the wrench, he flung it into what seemed like low orbit, though it must have ended up the next block over. But Kenny persevered and he eventually completed the brake job.
I did learn two valuable lessons that day, just not about car repair. First, Kenny didn't suffer fools, or mediocrity in any form even from inanimate objects. Second, when Kenny put his mind to something, he was a force of nature, practically unstoppable.
