Yet Another Repair

by Frank J. Tassone · 7 November 2019

Mira didn’t want to tell me: the AC stopped working again. We toggled the switch, heard the hum of the intake fan, but only warm air emerged from the vent. When I went outside to investigate, I found that the exhaust fan didn’t turn. Meanwhile, inside, a tripped breaker didn’t reset.

warm, still air
as I call a contractor
she bites her lips

The technician arrives this morning, at 7:30. After he examines the exhaust fan, he goes inside. Soon, he calls me, so I head downstairs. We face the circuit breakers together, where he shows me the twisted, blackened metal beside the faulty connection. He can’t repair that, so he recommends I contact an electrician. And he still charges me $160.

services rendered
the escalating heat
of a summer day

Mira lies down with a pounding headache. My back and shoulders throb with tension. And we haven’t even heard how much we’ll have to pay next.

screeching blue jays
diminishing numbers
in our bank accounts

Photo by Mika Baumeister

Frank J. Tassone

Frank J. Tassone lives in New York City's "back yard" with his wife and son. He fell in love with writing after he wrote his first short story at age 12 and his first poem in high school. He began writing haiku and haibun seriously in the 2000s. His haikai poetry has appeared in Failed Haiku, Cattails, Haibun Today, Contemporary Haibun Online, Contemporary Haibun, The Haiku Foundation and Haiku Society of America member anthologies. He is a contributing poet for the online literary journal Image Curve, and a performance poet with Rockland Poets. When he's not writing, Frank works as a special education high school teacher in the Bronx. When he's not working or writing, he enjoys time with his family, meditation, hiking, practicing tai chi and geeking out to Star Wars, Marvel Cinema and any other Sci-Fi/Fantasy film and TV worth seeing.