Martin left small repairs unfinished for years. Then they put the house up for sale.
Before the first viewing, he fixed the gate, the cupboard and the cracked bathroom tiles.
On moving day, his wife rescued the FOR SALE sign from the rubbish.
Martin asked why she wanted to keep it….
For seven years, Ruth had lifted the garden gate to open it. Martin always said he would look at it on Saturday.
He never said which Saturday.
The kitchen cupboard had a similar arrangement. You opened it with one hand and caught the door with the other. Martin called it a loose screw. Ruth called it a two-person cupboard.
Then they decided to move nearer their daughter.
The estate agent came on Monday. She admired the garden, caught the cupboard door and suggested a few small repairs before photographs.
Martin fetched his tools before she had finished her tea.
Ruth watched him carry a hinge into the garden.
Are you fixing the gate?
People will see it in the photographs.
I’ve been seeing it from the pavement for seven years.
Yes, he said, but you already live here.
By Wednesday, the gate swung quietly. Martin opened and closed it six times. Ruth walked through once without having to lift anything. She nearly went back to do it again.
The agent booked a viewing for Friday.
Martin tightened the cupboard hinge on Thursday evening. Then he fixed the second hinge because the first repair had made it look bad.
Ruth put a plate away with one hand. She kept her other hand raised for a moment, not quite trusting it.
The first visitors liked the house. They asked about the bathroom tiles.
Nothing serious, Martin said. I’ll sort those out.
When? Ruth asked.
Before they come back.
She asked the agent to invite them back on Tuesday.
Martin spent the weekend in the bathroom.
He also painted the patch behind the towel rail. Ruth had stopped hanging towels there three years earlier because the rail fell off when it got ambitious.
By Tuesday, it held two bath towels. Martin added a hand towel to prove a point.
Ruth took it off. She wanted to enjoy the first two.
The buyers made an offer. Martin accepted, then spent the next month fixing things he hoped they had not noticed.
He replaced a broken drawer runner. He filled the hole beside the front step. He finally put a handle on the shed.
On their last evening, Ruth walked round the house. Every door opened. Every drawer closed. Nothing needed holding up while something else was moved.
It’s lovely now, Martin said. Shame we’re leaving.
Ruth looked at him.
The next morning, the agent removed the FOR SALE sign from its wooden post. Martin told her to put it with the rubbish.
Ruth picked it up and slid it into the removal van.
We won’t need that, Martin said. The house is sold.
I know.
Then where are you putting it?
In our new garden.
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