toni stone
wonder works studio
401 buck hollow road
fairfax, vermont 05454
July 29, 1997
SAWING THROUGH THE BIG WALL
“it’s amazing how fine a line makes a breakthrough.”
– John McClain
i was watching the saw come through the wall. it looked like a pencil vibrating.
it drew a line behind it as it went along. the line was not just a line.
severance was happening.
i am familiar with breakthrough. i have said it to describe to clients the drama of
severing walls to get to where one is going. i knew the Berlin wall came down.
i was not there when it occurred. today i was standing right here when the wall
came down in our garage. i hired someone to do that job. it never crossed my mind
how dramatic a breakthrough really is and that i would be there to see it become a
fact.
we were all out in the greenhouse looking at the point pushing through
the sage green shingles. the noise was so loud from the saw in the garage
that you had to yell. the skinny line, left behind the protuding, moving saw showed
a faint line of light, shining from in the garage.
our backs were to the mountain. sawdust was flying over everything.
Rodney yelled when the saw stopped, “okay over there?”
Steve hollered back, “one more inch then start down.”
the skinny saw that looked like a pencil, turned down with a slight curve,
then went back up, coming down again with a sharp angle
instead of that smooth curve. it throbbed it’s way down. the saw was moving
quickly inching what was once together, apart. we were mesmerized, being privy to
such an action. the wall which had kept the light out would never
be that way again. i was watching it give way to what was next, a window on the
sky!the saw swept over to the left, cutting an angle then going back to cut it in, a little
deeper. the rectangle was emerging, as we watched. the moving point completed
the rectangle. the pale green wall began falling into the greenhouse. hands were
pushing, other hands were pulling. the noise of the final lunge huffed and the wall
came down completely. we could see Rodney. he could see us. although we knew
this would happen, it was still a shock. both sides staring at each other suddenly.
there was nowhere to hide now that the breakthrough was complete. we cheered,
screeched and shouted, as they shook off the sawdust. there was now an opening.
the people in the garage yelled about seeing the sky. the people in the greenhouse
were moaning about what a thrill it was to see the garage from a place that was so
remote. a brief moment in time changed the view irrevocably. it was worth the
mess, the bother, the noise and the mystery of how it would turn out. breakthroughs
are like that…
it is wonderful to see out of the dark musty garage to the pale blue sky in the
greenhouse. however, to view the recycle cardboard, soda cans, bottles and plastic
in the garage, oh no. breakthroughs are like this…
something pushed out and someone looks in.
