Getting mad never solved anything. Getting out the Black & Decker 47 piece Project Kit, on the other hand...

Danielle hadn't been out of college very long, so she tried to remind herself of the times she stayed up all hours of the night and annoyed the people living next door to her. And then she remembered: THAT. NEVER. HAPPENED.

But on the plus side, her new "off-campus" neighbors were about to make her life much more efficient! Danielle took out the Black & Decker 47 piece Project Kit she'd kept in her closet since that first weekend of school. It was a gift from her Mom, who pointed out that it was all the tools a normal person might need. In fact, though Danielle had used the Cordless Drill, and the screwdriver, and even a couple of the pliers, she'd never even touched the adjustable wrench, not even after she moved into her new place.

Tonight, however, was a good night for that to change.

At first, it was hard to get the bolts on the neighbor's doorknob to come loose. But Danielle had worked in the garage with her dad, and Danielle's dad had one motto: "If you can build it, someone else can take it apart!" Once or twice, while she was firing up the drill's variable speed reverse, she hear someone say "Dude... is that a drill?" But then someone would turn up the dubstep and the party would continue.

All told, it took Danielle a few hours to take the lock apart and reassemble it. It might have been easier to just knock on the door and ask them to keep it down. But if she'd done THAT, she would have missed out on the magical moment unfolding before her now. That moment when an apartment full of exhausted college kids suddenly discovered they had no idea why the door wouldn't open.

She was sure Nestoras would get around to fixing the knob eventually. Maybe even before they all starved.

Back to top