Juice

Appliance Repair Guy revived my dishwasher switch, cleaned a gas jet on my range and rocked my clothes washing machine forward to let its back legs level itself. Who knew an old GE had self-leveling legs? I could use a pair myself.

He’s twenty-nine, tall and good-looking like his father who fixed these very same machines but died two years ago of sudden diabetes at fifty-two. The Kitchenaids are now eleven years old, geriatric. He handled them with tender, loving care.

"Do I need new ones?"

“Oh no,” he said. “These are well made. The designs haven’t changed in twenty years. You could get fancier ones,” he added doubtfully.

I apologized for the inside of the dishwasher. Horrid deposits of God knows what.

“This is nothing,” Repair Guy said calmly. “It just needs a little citric acid. Cheap, any Indian market.” He spooned a big tablespoonful of it into the dw’s soap dispenser, snapped it shut and punched the short cycle.

Wow! The inside of the dishwasher is sparkly clean after all these years. All this in half an hour. Eighty bucks.

I found a jar of citric acid for under one fifty in the canning section of my ordinary grocery store. Being slightly sour, it boosts flavor. Basically lemon juice, it’s organic and harmless.

I thought you should know that I am not a one-sided intellectual-type writer who can’t manage her household appliances.

Citric acid. Think about it!