Polishing Cloth

I had recently bought an old and tired looking Schwinn bicycle from a garage sale, hoping that I would be able to fix it up and sell it on Craigslist for a little bit more than I bought it for. The bicycle was a classic cruiser from the middle of the 20th Century that had once been red but must have been painted first black than green in the last few decades. It was now a strange mixture of all three plus rust/ Underneath the rust and grime I could see a beautiful biking wanting to come out and a little cleaning, fixing, truing and wheel polishing with a polish cloth would go a long way in making it worth more than the fifteen dollars that I bought it for.

It looked the previous owners had barely rode it and let it sit in a shed somewhere. It still had all of the original components right down to the fenders. The cables needed to be changed, and the tires needed to be updated but everything was salvageable. I got it home and put it up on my home made bike stand and proceeded to carefully strip everything off the frame. I put the chain along with the front and rear derailleur in a pan of degreaser and then tackled the wheels, stripping off the tires, replacing some spokes and then truing them on a truing wheel that I got at a swap meet.

The rims were in not too bad of shape and did not need too much tweaking to stop them from wobbling. The wheel polishing came next and soon I use the cleaning brass for aluminum wheels shining like a brand new jet liner. The frame was next, and that took a little more time. I first had to sand off all the paint then prime it before repainting it red, but soon I had a nice looking bike. So nice in fact, that I decided to keep it for myself.

"The polish cloth did not come from an Easter European country. It didn't ride the wave of Diaspora like the Polish Sausage or Kielbasa did, only to be enjoyed in restaurants all over the country.",said the holographic librarian lecture. "The simple truth is, it was invented here in The USA over 90 years ago. Polish cloth was created by using a top secret formulation that would clean and polish almost any sort of metal. The same thing can be said about the polish hot dog which was developed in Chicago by Polish immigrants hoping to add a tiny bit of old world flavor to a new world favorite.

"Umm, I believe your circuits could possibly be confused," I then explained, interrupting the interactive hologram. This caused the static image of the librarian to freeze as I explained further, "First there is the term Polish with the long "o" sound, which means of Polish descent, which is where the Kielbasa came from. Then there is the term polish with the short "o" sound which refers to the act of rubbing a piece of metal until it shines. The two words, even though spelled the same, are completely different in their meanings."

I had my doubts that the quad learning processor was still intact, and I had hoped this cleared things up for the 400 year old software.

"I do not compute, Syntax Error number 4", the hologram proclaimed before completely freezing and then rebooted itself. When it came back online, it no longer had any recollection of me or of our past three months together contained in the subbasement of a destroyed earth. I guess the whole polish cloth dilemma was a mistake, but I had to ask it if I was ever going to come across the secret formula again. If I was ever going to make it back to my own time, I had to understand how I could shine my silver without it getting damaged.

"The polish cloth did not come from an Easter European country. It didn't ride the wave of Diaspora like the Polish Sausage or Kielbasa did, only to be enjoyed in eating establishments all over the country.",said the holographic librarian lecture. "The reality is, it was created right here in The United States over 90 years ago using a mystery formula that helps clean and polish any type of metal. The same thing can be said about the polish hot dog which was conceived in Chicago by Polish immigrants hoping to add a small bit of old world flavor to a new world favorite.

I then interrupted the talking hologram and said, "I believe that you may well have you circuits mix up." This caused the static image of the librarian to freeze as I explained further, "First there is the term Polish with the long "o" sound, which means of Polish descent, which is where the Kielbasa has come from. The word polish, which pertains to the act of rubbing a piece of metal to bring out the sine is pronounced with a short "o" sound. The two words, though spelled the same, are completely different in their meanings."

I had my doubts that the quad learning processor was still intact, and I had hoped this cleared things up for the four hundred year old program.

"I do not compute, Syntax Error number 4", the hologram stated before totally freezing and then rebooted itself. When it came back online, it no longer had any recollection of me or of our past three months together stuck in the subbasement of a destroyed earth. I guess the whole polish cloth query was a mistake, but I had to ask it if I was ever going to locate the secret formula again. I needed to understand how silver could be made to shine without damaging it if I was ever going to get back to my era.