The Case of the Old Typewriter

Well, it's almost tomorrow, and I haven't sat down and tried to write anything. I've been too busy with other things, some of them productive, like throwing things away, and I'm really tired and want to go to bed, but this is an appointment that I have kept since November 19, 2024. I opened the case of my old 1964 Royal Safari typewriter that my dad bought me for high school graduation, I think. It's beautiful. Missing a piece, though--the part that covers the typebasket (I just learned that term!), and the ribbon doesn't work, so if I'm going to use it I'm going to have to find another ribbon for it, online, I suppose. But the problem is, after I opened it, the case would not close! I have no idea how it got off the hinges the way it did. It's almost like someone very strong forced it to close, because as soon as I tried to close it after opening it, the lid stayed tightly opened. I don't have any WD40 so I asked Google Chrome about it and they said I could use Vaseline (who'd a thunk it?) which loosened up the hinges a little, but the top is totally out of alignment with the bottom. I am very un-mechanical but when things like this happen I fantasize about being able to figure things like this out. So I spent a lot of time trying to do that, to absolutely no avail. I even tried to knock it a little with my nicer hammer, but I am too weak to pry it back into position, and I'm afraid I'm going to break it, even though it seems to be pretty darn securely constructed (they used to securely construct things, I think; i.e., make them to last). I really think I will be able to get the typewriter working again, and I'm going to ask a friend who is mechanical and brilliant if maybe he can help me. I am not sure how I'm going to figure all this out, but I was happy to see what good condition my old red typewriter is in, other than the ribbon not working. I really like typewriters better than computers, and at least I should be able to use it to type notes or envelopes or SOMETHING. I don't have any room to, like, display it or anything. That's my main problem right now, getting rid of things. I was tempted to put it in the thrift store box, but I just couldn't do that, especially now that the case is jammed open. It's very strange the things we get involved with when we have a lot of time on our hands. (To be continued)