writing doodle - restoration

To say the baby doll was in bad shape was an understatement.  The thing was made of sawdust and glue, but then again, in the 1930s and 1940s it was the standard of the day; the cracks at the seams and the crazing around the mouth and eyes was not.  The muslin body was mostly clean except for the stain where the doll's heart would have been.

The old man examined the table to make sure he had everything lined up.  Sandpaper? Check.  Wood Spackle?  Check.  Wood glue?  Yep.  Old dental picks.  Uh-huh, he had those.  Beige thread, scissors, and needle?  Check, check, and check.  Now all he had to do was find a radio station that came in clearly so he wouldn't feel so alone doing this singular task.

Slowly, carefully, he lifted off the wood chips that could not be reglued to the head.  He took a deep breath and wished he hadn't volunteered to fix his wife's first doll so she could give it to their great-granddaughter on her first birthday. 

Had he known that this task was actually going to take longer than helping his daughter repaint her bathroom and kitchen, he might have offered to do that for her instead.  He had worked as a carpenter and cabinet maker for over 40 years.  While some of the work was solitary, usually the projects didn't exist in a bubble.  He had interaction with the plumbers and electricians.  Sometimes he had to revise the client's expectations and alter the dream kitchen.

This project he couldn't screw up.  There would be no way to hide the flaws in his work.  This doll was the passing of a torch while there was still a flicker of a flame.

He stood from the workbench and realized his rear end would fall asleep in about twenty minutes.  That was the problem with getting to be an old man, you lost the padding in the back and it wound up in the front.  The cushion from the old patio set slid around on the bench, but would work as a short term solution. 

He had eight days to pull off a miracle and make the doll whole again.  Heck if God could create the entire world in six days and give himself one off to rest, this should be cake.