“When I was a boy, my father wanted to lay a new sewer line in the yard. It was a monumental task of epic proportions and frankly, I was terrified of it.”
“We were going to need to dig a forty-foot trench by hand because we were too poor to afford the machinery needed to do it.”
“I remember asking my dad how we’d ever dig such a long trench.”
“His reply?”
“One shovelful at a time.”
“We slaved in the yard for months, digging away at the trench – one shovelful at a time. It took a lot of blood, sweat and tears, but by the time the pipe was ready to be delivered, we’d dug a forty-foot trench in the yard.”
“When the delivery man came to deliver the pipe, he asked where the equipment or machinery was. My father replied that we didn’t use any.”
“How could you possibly have dug all of this then, he asked.”
“One shovelful at a time, I replied.”
“Whenever I stand before a monumental task now, I don’t look at it and wonder how I’m going to achieve it. I don’t look at the monumental task that is Simon and fear the next step.”
“I didn’t look at Lambs to the Slaughter and worry about how I was going to win it. I knew that as long as I took it one step at a time, beat one person at a time and survived, one person at a time, I could last to the end and achieve my goals.”
“This week Simon, there’s a monumental task ahead of me and more on the line than I ever thought possible.”
“If you win, you join our match at Ring of Dreams and make it a Triple Threat for OSW World Championship. I beat you at Lambs, and now you’re getting a second chance.”
“But if I win, you’ll have to finally stop treating Zero like a dog and give him his divorce papers so that he can marry the love of his life.”
“And how am I gonna do that, I hear you ask?”
“I don’t have any tools.”
“I don’t have any weapons.”
“I certainly don’t have any machinery.”
“You’re the equivalent of a forty-foot trench in my back yard that needs to be dug, or else life as I know it will be full of shit.”
“It’s a monumental task, that much I know.”
“But I’m gonna step into that ring..”
“Taking it one step at a time.”
“I’m going to punch you in the face.”
“Taking it one punch at a time.”
“And I’m going to beat you once and for all, ending your miserable tyrannical hold over Pyre and Zero.”
“One slap of the canvas at a time.”
“You’re a big piece of shit, Simon.”
“And I’ve dug a sewer line before.”
“One shovelful at a time.”