Ch. 19

Something hard was hurting my back. My head swirled with nausea, and it was a few minutes before I could get up.

Once I could finally think again without also wishing to vomit at the same time, I sat up and thought, Alright, who's disturbing my sleep again?

I got up and groaned in annoyance.

It was the boiler room. Again.

"Dammit, Freddy, pick on someone your own size, you jerk.", I mumbled to myself, as I walked through the steam, taking care not to step in any puddles.
Once I'd finally picked my way through the maze of stuff in there, I could hear the pipes working. I could hear someone tinkering with something… metal maybe?

Then I stepped into the light, and saw everything for myself.

Freddy was sitting at a desk that was a little too short for him. It had a lamp on it that was the source of light he needed. He had all the materials he needed to make an exact copy of his glove.

Why is he making another one?, I thought.

I cautiously neared him, not wanting to interrupt such a precious event.

But he heard me anyway, and didn't even look back at me as he said, "Come here, Julia."

He didn't say it threateningly, but as an adult might to a child: calm, with a little bit of order in it.

I neared the table, and peered at the materials. Freddy had a determined yet calm expression on his face, as if he was determined to get this done but had done this so many times before he'd grown used to the procedure.

"Hmm? What?", I asked.

He nonchalantly grabbed my right wrist and placed it on the table on top of a piece of leather. Then he picked up another piece of leather and placed it over my hand.

"What are you doing?"

"Getting your size.", he answered.

The leather was soft on the outside and it had wool in the inside, to keep one's hand warm.

"How did you know I liked this kind?"

"Racked your brains."

I was about to protest when I remembered that racking one's brains was a Freddy thing.

He used a sharpie to mark around the indention of my entire hand, and then removed the leather.

"Freddy…you're in a good mood today."

"Mmm.", was his only reply.

He cut the shape of my hand out of the pieces of leather and stitched them together so quick you'd think he'd been doing this since he was five. Then he placed it to the side on the table.

Next, he took the random little ringlets of metal on the table and screwed them together so that they fit. Then Freddy took my hand and slid the finger-encasings onto my hand, to be sure that they fit. It was a little bit loose. After that, he took it off and screwed it a little tighter. Finally, he slid the finger-encasings onto the glove and bolted them onto the glove. But something was missing…

He looked up at my confused expression, and he laughed. "You think I'm missing something! I didn't forget!"

Then Freddy pulled four knives out from a bag he'd hidden underneath the table. They were shiny and were about ten inches long. Not as long as his, but long enough for me to be able to handle them with ease.

He chuckled when I stared wide-eyed at them. Then he returned to his work. He got up, took all four blades and ran them over the paper wheel to sharpen them. I heard the very loud scrape of the knives against the wheel, and saw the sparks flying. I didn't know whether to gasp, jump for joy, or hug Freddy.

So I did all three.

I gasped, jumped up and down shouting for joy, and caught him in a tight hug.

"Ah! Thank you!", I screeched. "You're the best!"

He stiffened, and looked sadly/blankly off into the distance. Then he gathered his thoughts and glared at me.

I stopped hugging him, and backed off, mouthing the word, "Sorry."

He finished sharpening the knives, and we both went back to the desk.