Editor's Note, October 2010

Force vs. Finesse

by Brian K. Mahoney and photographs by Fionn Reilly, September 27, 2010

Sometimes events in our lives occur that brim with such manifestly potent personal symbolism that they take on an allegorical air in their immediate aftermath. Here’s one such incident that recently happened to me. Or perhaps I happened to it.

I dropped my keys. It happened right outside my office.
People drop their keys all the time. Unless you have them tethered to your belt loop on a chain like a heavy metal aficionado or on a tension wire like a building superintendent, it’s bound to happen. When you’re standing over a sewer grate, however, gravity’s course with everyday objects can be freighted with symbolic significance right quick.

My hands were full. I was trying to carry to the car in one trip what I probably should have done in two trips. I was also behind schedule, having worked late and trying to dash to the gym before meeting friends for dinner. So when I blithely reached into my pocket for my keys, perched above the sewer grate, arms full and thoughts already on what the fastest route crosstown was, I was not in an optimal state for error-free lock-and-key behavior.

Then a sudden lightness in my hand, a chink! on the grate, and the rustle of dry leaves three feet below grade shifting to accommodate a new presence.
First thought, best thought (and only thought): I need to get this grate off so I can liberate my keys. As the street had been paved with new tarry asphalt in the past week, the grate stuck fast in its casing.

I needed tools. Big, ugly tools that could bring physical strength to bear against implacable obstacles like metal, rock, and industrial adhesives. So I called Lee Anne, told her my predicament, and asked her to bring the requisite implements from the shed—sledgehammer, six-foot prybar, any kind of chisel that looked like it might break up masonry. Lee Anne didn’t question my tactics a whit (to her great credit and an ongoing testament to her patience). She just said she’d see me in 20 minutes.