Day 49
I had been in a rush.
Ralph was dawdling when he was supposed to be getting ready for school. Traffic was more of a nightmare than usual. I stopped to get snacks to restock the Garage's refrigerator. Of course, the first store I went to was out of the fortunately for all of us re-continued Boysenberry Blast yogurt that Sylvester can't live without.
I had to go to a second store for the yogurt, which meant I also had to stop for gas. So of course I was in a hurry and wasn't paying attention when I dropped the bags on the counter in Walter's kitchen.
My favorite coffee mug was perched precariously on the edge of the counter. I didn't see it and even Walter, who had followed me into the kitchen to help put away the food, didn't have time to react in time to stop it from sailing through the air when I knocked into it with the bags.
It really gained an impressive amount of air and then landed with an echoing crash. The crash landing knocked off the handle and took a few fair-sized chunks out of the rim. I mean, at least it didn't shatter. It is quality work. Apparently.
"P-Paige. I am so sorry. I know it's your favorite." Walter stammered, looking like I'd just accused him of taking a sledgehammer to my hard drive, not like a coffee mug was chipped. I mean, I was kind of disappointed that it was broken, but it's not like it was his fault. It was just a random accident. There are plenty of other cute coffee mugs in the world.
Before I could even begin to clean up the remains of the mug, Happy came in with the news that the team was needed in New Mexico to demo her new winch, so I barely got a chance to put the food in the fridge, let alone think about a cup of coffee.
After the day we had, I didn't even really think about the mug again, until I was upstairs in Walter's loft, sewing a button back on the sleeve of my blouse after a totally normal-for-Scorpion day of hiking through the mountains of New Mexico, evading drug runners, while wearing really not appropriate for the activity clothing.
Why do I not wear combat boots to work every day? I'm trying to remember.
Anyway… While I was sewing, I overheard Happy ask Walter if he wanted to use her new fast-drying polymer that she was using to seal cracks in the walls of the Garage to stop the rain from coming in and getting her tools wet. It took a minute for Walter's mind to return from wherever it had gone wandering because I heard Happy say "Walt!" three times before he finally replied with a slightly confused, "Yeah?"
She offered the fast-drying polymer again. She even offered to do the repair for him so he wouldn't get his soft hacker hands roughed up with actual work. (Her words, not mine.) But he declined her offer.
I wondered what he was working on so intently, what was so important for him to do instead of coding, so I peeked over the railing to the floor below. That's when I saw Walter, with laser-like focus, repairing that dumb coffee mug himself.
Honestly, I don't know if it will ever hold anything liquid again. Walter is a genius, not a miracle worker. And glue is really kind of useless against hot coffee. But if not, I know a perfect spot for it to live on the shelf beside my desk. Sounds like a successful repair job to me.