As we go through life, we find ourselves doing jobs we would never have thought we would be doing. Such is one I ended up doing. In the later part of a summer or early fall I was asked by my brother Ben to assist him in a wiring job. Always looking to spend time with my brother and make some extra cash, I said I would. Ben had learned enough to do electrical wiring so that he could take on jobs on the weekends to help folks and put some cash into his pockets. (He was just beginning to teach school and was making very little.) 
This particular job was for our new family doctor William Miller who had his practice in New Richmond. Since the doctor who delivered, us into this world had retired and moved to Florida, Dr. Miller was our next pick. At this time, I was sixteen and probably in the best physical condition of my life. I was known to be strong in lifting large amounts of weight and arm wrestling. Since we were on a farm, every day was a workout of lifting all of the time. Don’t get me wrong as I liked being able to out lift most anyone I went up against. To be the best at something and even if it was only lifting a lot it still feels good.
Ben didn’t really tell me just exactly what we were going to replace but it was important that I be there as he needed my help very much and for this he said he would pay me .25 cents more on the hour and also buy my lunch at Frisch’s. (Folks, buying a meal for a healthy 16-year-old boy at Frisch’s was a major benefit and a deal sealer for sure.) He also told me to bring a good pair of work gloves, which I thought a little odd, but I said OK.
So Saturday morning arrived, and a little before eight, so did I. Ben met me there and took me back the long hallway of the doctors office to the room with the x-ray machine. That was when Ben pointed to the machine and told me that was to be removed and we were installing a new x-ray machine. This sounded cool to me and I could tell folks how I was working on high tech equipment. It wasn’t long before the doctor himself showed up and began going over details with Ben and taking measurements to be sure the old would clear the doorways out and vice a versa for the new one.
Since Ben’s wife was working for Dr. Miller, I guess she got Ben the job and it wasn’t long before she arrived to see what we were about to do. Ben said to follow him and we went to the old x-ray table that looked about five feet in length and had a beam on a tract on the side that had attached to it on an armature the x-ray machine. From there it could be moved and adjusted to take x-rays in just about any angle or position possible. So I looked at my brother and ask him what we had to unhook so it could be carried out.
Ben got a kind of a sheepish grin on his face and said, “Well, Rick there is more to it than just unplugging it.” He then removed a shield from the side of the table and pointed to a large stack of square shaped pieces of metal and said, “I’m going to need you to remove these and carry them to a pallet outside.” I nodded and still didn’t understand his funny look. That is until I reached in to pick them up. Each small square was a pure lead fifty-pound weight. Small in size but heavy in weight. So I began to pull them out and I would stack two or three at a time, carry them to the outside, and then stack them on the pallet. It wasn’t too long before I had moved them all out and was only slightly winded. Then Ben removed another panel revealing another stack of these weights. I looked at my brother and I knew I had a puzzled look. I asked just why all of these were needed. He explained that they were counter weights. They were to hold the machine in place and keep it from tilting over. The lead was used because it was an x-ray machine. With that, I began to remove that group. When that was all outside Ben called me back, he had unbolted the shield off the beam that held the machine, and there at the bottom of it was a steal cylinder attached to a cable that connected to the x-ray machine itself. Ben explained that this was a counter weight to that and on the side of the cylinder, it was plainly marked that the weight was 250 pounds.
I gave my brother a double take and he said you know you can do it. Inside I had some doubt, but my big brother had said I could. Reassurance helps. Then Dr. Miller said to Ben, “I bet you five bucks that he can’t carry it all the way without setting it down.” Ben said, “You’re on.”
At this point, I was on center stage and inside I knew I was going to do this. Then the doctor said to me, “I will pay for your hernia operation if it don’t go well.”
Now that was the wrong thing to say, as I never needed a second wind to remove it. Then I think that Ben’s father-in-law and the doctor, Ben and myself all carried the table minus almost 2,500 pounds of counter weights down that hall and outside.
Once this was completed it was lunchtime and the truth be told I was in need of some rest as it had been a long morning. It was a good thing Ben won that five bucks because I was hungry and we used that all up on our meal. I told Ben at lunch that I was glad all the weights had been removed and again he got that sheepish grin. I asked, “Now what?” and he said.
“You do know we haven’t carried in any of the new x-ray machine and it has the same number of weights in it as the old one did.”
“Even the cylinder weight,” I asked.
“Yup that also,” my brother said.
So we returned to the office and I began to carry in the materials, including the new table. I finished around 4:30 p.m., and Ben was a good distance from being done. I tried not to show that a day of doing nothing but lifting and carrying for almost eight hours had worn me out, but I guess it showed. Ben said I might as well go on home. I offered to help as I was still an official flunky. He declined my offer and said he would pay me. I then declined and told him I would see him on Sunday and collect from him then. He asked me if I couldn’t use that for when I went to town and I explained that this was a Saturday night [and] that this boy was staying home.
Ben smiled, chuckled, and said, “Even the strongest will get tired, won’t they?”
I only nodded my head and started the car engine…
Rick Houser grew up on a farm near Moscow in Clermont County and loves to share stories about his youth and other topics. If you are interested in reading more of his stories they can be found in his books ‘There are Places to Remember” and’ Memories ARE from the Heart.” He may be reached at houser734@yahoo.com or mail to P.O. Box 213 Bethel, Ohio 45106.