Working

Working

“Slant it to the left a bit.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean the other way. It’s slanting it to the right, slant it to the left.”

“So, slant means make crooked?”

“Sort of... you don’t know what slant means?”

“I’ve heard it before but I was never sure. Crooked huh. Does that mean a thief is a slant?”

“No, wrong kind of crooked. It’s more like tipped. I could have said ‘tip it the other way.’’’

“So, why didn’t you?”

Al sighed, “Because I said slant, can you just do it?”

“I’m just trying to learn something here,” he said quietly, tipping the painting the other way. “It this correct?”

“Yeah, sorry I was short with you. My allergies seem to be acting up.” He sneezed, “I think it’s the dust.”

“That’s another one, ‘short with you,’ I know what people mean but I don’t know why it means that.”

“It’s just saying the bare bones of the sentence instead of nice-ing it up.”

“Ah, so the sentence gets shorter, I see now.”

“Well, yes and no, mostly no. It’s not about being shorter, it’s actually being kinda rude, as if the other person doesn’t count enough to get an explanation. I shouldn’t have been short with you.”

“Well, thank you. Can I ask you another one?”

“Sure, go ahead...”

“What does it mean when someone tells you not to drop the ball when there is no ball to drop?”

Harry looked at his partner, “Sammy, you are getting pretty good at this English stuff. How’s about you start teaching me French?”

“That would be very nice. Je suis d'accord! I agree!”

The two custodians walked back to their office, chatting about dropping balls.