Sheet 01 of 04 · rev. final

More than a card
on the table.

You always said a card was a waste of a good envelope. So I drew it up properly. To scale. Annotated. Signed off at the bottom, the way you like things.

Drawn by: your kid Scale: 1:1, roughly

Fig. 01 — on file

[ frame withheld ]

the two of us at the lake, the year the engine died. you're laughing at something off-frame. i never told you i kept this one.

Detail not for distribution.

Note — revision history

I was maybe fourteen. The boiler went on a Sunday and you didn't know how to fix it either — I could see it on your face for about four seconds before you went and got the manual and read it standing up at the counter.

That was the day I worked it out. You weren't a man who knew everything. You were a man who didn't stop until he did. I'd had it backwards my whole childhood.

It's a harder thing to inherit than being clever. I'm still working on it.

Fig. 02 — the shed you built, 2003

Tap a callout. Every part of it taught me something you'd never have called a lesson.

Awaiting selection…

Appendix A — standard phrases

Catalogued for the record. Tap a card for the spec.

PH-01 “We'll have a look.” tap for spec

Conditions of use Deployed before any repair. Translates to: it's already fixed in his head, he just hasn't told you yet.

PH-02 “Did you eat?” tap for spec

Conditions of use First three words of every phone call, regardless of crisis. The closest you get to “I was worried.”

PH-03 “Right, then.” tap for spec

Conditions of use Hands on knees, the sound of a man standing up. Signals the end of sitting and the start of doing. Non-negotiable.

PH-04 “It owes me nothing.” tap for spec

Conditions of use Said of the car, the boots, the lawnmower — anything that gave more than it cost. The highest praise you have.

Final note

You taught me everything by doing it where I could see. So here's the one thing you never said out loud, said back: it owes you nothing, and I owe you all of it.

— J.

Sheet 01 / folded

tap to unfold

More than a cardon the table.

More than a card
on the table.