Annoy Direct

Elias gripped his tweezers tighter. Focus, he told himself. He lowered the hairspring into place. Wheeze-puff. Wheeze-puff.

"Almost, Mr. E!" Toby chirped, followed by a wet, clicking sound as he popped a piece of gum. "Just making sure I get into the nooks. And the crannies. Can't forget the crannies." Snap. Elias gripped his tweezers tighter

The hairspring, a coil thinner than a human eyelash, had Ping-Ponged out of the tweezers and vanished into the shag carpet. Elias sat frozen. The annoyance he had been carefully tamping down suddenly flared into a cold, white heat. Wheeze-puff

"Toby," Elias called out, his voice a low vibration of restrained irritation. "The solvent. Is it applied?" I have a magnet!"

Toby looked at the floor, then back at Elias, his eyes wide. "I... I can help find it? I have a magnet!"