The early afternoon sun shone through the kumogakure clouds, it was 1 pm and the shipment was late. Takeshii waited patiently outside of the city gate playing cat's cradle with a length of wire tied off at one end to make a loop. He twisted and contorted his hands to create different figures. A dog, a cat, a bird, a spider web, the Eifel Tower. At 2 pm the shipment finally arrived. Takeshii had made sure to walk the distance between the shop and the city gates so he would know how much time it took for him to travel that distance. It ended up taking him about 30 minutes walking at a casual pace. Encumbered it would probably take about an hour.

When the shipment arrived, Takeshii made a point to inspect the shipment and note any discrepencies such as chips in the wooden boxes, or cracks etc. Each box was about four feet long, 2 feet high, and 3 feet wide. Depending on the metals inside, Takeshii estimated that each of the three boxes weighed between 100 and 120 lbs. Probably closer to 110. They were small enough to carry by hand, but he'd have to use both hands to carry the boxes securely. Fortunately, each box had 6 handles, 2 on either side and one on either end made of  cast iron.

"It'll probably take multiple trips, so I'll wait here for you boy. Don't take too long though, I've got other shipments to deliver!"

"Yes sir, thank you sir." Takeshii replied to the stocky man riding the carriage.

He put his wire away and carefully pulled the first box off of the cart. Grabbing a handle on either side of the box and picking it up like a suitcase. He began his first round to the shop. It was about as heavy as he thought it would be, about 110 lbs. Well within the amount he could carry. In fact the most he'd ever lifted was his father, who was about 140 lbs, while practicing basic throwing techniques. Than again, he was using proper body mechanics, and only lifted him for a brief moment before flipping him over his hip. This was a different story all together. It certainly put a strain on Takeshii's arms. A quarter way through the trip Takeshii had to place the box down and readjust his hand position to account for slipping. Another quarter way down, he placed the box over his shoulder, and that helped much more as he could balance it on his shoulders very easily.

Once he made it to the shop, the black smith pointed him to where he wanted the boxes. Takeshii carefully grabbed two of the hand holds and placed the box as carefully as he could on the ground. It landed with a heavy thud, but fortunately the box remained in tact.

"HEY! Careful son, I can't pay for broken merchandise!"

"Yes sir." Takeshii said, as he turned to leave the shop he noticed a spare length of pipe that was dinged up a bit on the sides and thought of a brilliant idea.

"Sir, is this steel?"

"No it's plastic! Of course it's steel, boy! Use your eyes!"

"Yes sir, it's pretty dinged up, are you selling it?"

"No, it's just taking up space, why do you need it?"

"It would make my job easier if I could."

"Take it than. Just get my box back before dusk. That's in about two hours."

"Yes sir, I'll have your merchandise here by than."

Takeshii grabbed the pipe and ran back to the entrance, all told this took him about 15 minutes. The length of pipe was about 5 feet long, and hollow on the inside so you could see through it from one end to the other. He took two spools of wire, each wire had the tensile strength of steel, so both together could easily hold both boxes. He twisted the two wires together folded them in half and fed them through the pipe. He took on end and wrapped it through one handle on either side making a good slip not so the box wouldn't fall during the trip. And than repeated the process on the other side. He than crouched under the pipe so that it rested over his shoulders and using his legs and proper lifting mechanics lifted both boxes at the same time.

It made quite a difference, and though the pipe bent just slightly it didn't fail. The weight was evenly distributed between both boxes and through Takeshii's body and legs so to him it felt as though he were only carrying one box. He left quickly pacing him self, but making good time.

With about 45 minutes he made his way back to the shop and placed both boxes down next to the first.

"Just in time boy, I was just about to close up shop."

"Good, that means I made it. I'll just untie the wires and be on my way."

"Alright."

Takeshii untied both spools of wire and left after bowing respectfully to the owner of the shop.

(WC 872/600)