The Iron Mechanism

Advancing from the stone steps, I entered the tall grass border along the garden edge. Ahead, a slatted timber bench offered shade from the midday glare. Beneath its rear support, half-buried in dry mulch, lay a forgotten iron garden shear. I paused, measuring its triangular hinge and rusted pivot bolt. Kneeling in the soil, I aligned the tip of my wrist-blade with the pivot gap and applied steady upward leverage. The joint resisted, then shifted with a dry scrape of flaking iron, spreading the blades apart by an inch. The interlocking pivot remains functional. I remained beneath the bench to observe the yard.