From the narrator’s point of view, write a conclusion to the passage “The Carpenter’s Apprentice.”
Start with what Ben might say in response to the narrator. Use descriptive words and phrases in your story conclusion.
The Carpenter’s Apprentice
Before Ben started to work with me, I had advised him to buy a quality set of tools. “Good tools are
expensive,” I had told him, “but they will last for years.” On Ben’s first day of work, the head of the
cheap hammer he had bought flew off and put a hole in a wall.
One Monday, as we ate our lunch in the truck outside the Pine Street house, Ben told me that he had
made a few phone calls for us. “The lumberyard across town can deliver what we need tomorrow. We
could finish the job by noon on Friday!”
I turned and met his eyes. “I think I told you that I don’t do business with that lumberyard anymore.
The last order I got from them had warps, splits, and four-inch knots on every piece.”
“But if we wait until the other delivery on Thursday, we won’t finish the job until Monday or Tuesday of
next week.”
I continued to look at him. Ben was thinking of his plans for the weekend, but I was thinking of our
obligation to the house’s owner to do the job right using only quality materials.
“Ben,” I sighed, “how would you like to live in this house?” He looked up at me quizzically, as though
I were making him an offer. “Would you like to live in this house if it were built your way, using inferior
lumber? Would you want to walk around on a floor with warped supports under it and sleep under a
roof built with split and knotted wood? We need to do this right, Ben. You can’t build a house twice.”
A philosopher, I’m not sure who, once said something to the effect that when you finish building your
house, you realize all that you have learned in the process—and you realize, too, that all you have
learned you should have known before you started.