Bonds

Percy, Facebook, and The Monsters of Wall Street

Percy tossed the ball of multicolored wire into the air with one hand and caught it with the other. "So, I'm certain I like Nico, and I'm certain that if I asked him out he would say yes."

He tossed the ball into the air higher this time- hitting one of the work lamps and ricocheting off- only to be caught by the Arthur; the old man not even looking up from his work. He set the ball of discarded wire bits down before flipping his strange magnifying glasses up and scowling at him. "You know, when I said you could pay me with a few visits I was expecting like one visit and that would be it. Not seeing you more than my grandkids..."

Percy leaned forward in the squeaky swivel chair and reached for the ball again. "You have grandkids?"

"No," the senior said, furrowing what little bit of brow Percy could see. "Whatever gave you that idea?"

"But you just said-"

Arthur snorted with laughter as he waved at him with the still smoking soldering iron. "I'm just pulling your leg. Feigning a senior moment and all that." He spun around on his stool back to the disassembled radio and touched the soldering iron to yellowing circuit board. "Serious about the no kids though. I've been a lifelong bachelor." The old man reached in and pulled a couple wire ends free, pulling his hand back quickly and blowing on his fingers. "But good for you for finding someone. Just, if you like this kid so much why are you waiting? Jump on it. No guts no glory and all that jazz."

He tossed the ball from hand to hand as he watched as his old friend poked and prodded the mess of wires with a red and a black probe while looking at a green digital display similar to the old calculator his mom had in their junk drawer. "My mom says I'm on the rebound right now. That I'm looking for someone new to take the place of... someone else. I mean, she's right, but isn't that kind of the point of moving on? Or am I supposed to just stay single forever?"

"I can't speak much on the first part there, but I wouldn't recommend the latter," Arthur hummed as he continued his examination of the antique wooden radio. "It's fine when you're young and able-bodied, but these last twenty years have been a real treat... Definitely been some madness setting in." He moved the probes once more and a high-pitched beep sounded from the gray box they were attached to. "Eureka!" the old man laughed, discarding the probes and picking up the soldering iron and a pair of tweezers. After a few seconds of cursing and growling, Arthur sat back in his chair with a little brown cylinder clutched in the tweezers. "A cracked resistor..." The old man spun around to face him and said, "could you reach behind you and pull one of these from the 1K ohm drawer?"

The what? Percy set the ball down and spun around to the imposing oak storage drawers that lined the wall behind the counter. Thankfully, each drawer was labelled with a little piece of yellowing paper and it didn't take him too long to find one labeled "1K" but it didn't say anything about omms or whatever, only having a 'Ω' after the 'K'. He pulled the drawer open and saw it was filled with possibly hundreds of little cylinders similar to what Arthur held up. "This one?" he asked, holding up tiny component. "The label says 1K and it has an omega, but nothing about omms."

"Ohms," the old man corrected with a chuckle. "The standard symbol for ohms is that omega. Now, what colors are the bands on the resistor's body?"

He held the electrical doodad close to his face. "Uh... Gold, red, black, and brown?"

The old man nodded. "Yup, that's a 1K ohm resistor with a five-percent tolerance. You, uh, did read it backwards though..."

Percy looked at the resistor once more, looking for any sign of an orientation before handing over to the shop owner. "How the heck do you know that?"