This clown working beside him never
kept his mouth shut
he couldnt say the number of
times he stopped leaned on his
shovel and looked him
straight in the
face
imagining he bludgeoned him with
it
the sweet arc of that long
woodhandled spade coming around and cracking him on the
back of his skull
putting one of them out of their misery
the imagining refreshed him
turned
on a vivid white noise in his head
drowning out the clowns Whites right White Race RushLimbo-inspired
gobbling in his
ears
saying he was snarky would be a
compliment
he was a young man
and still
he
couldnt imagine how hed gotten this far
working with small crews would
help
as he did so he wouldnt have to listen the horseshit
bigger businesses plied
small businesses needed someone
they could count on to show work their hours and
pickup their paychecks Friday
night
if you
could conscientiously oblige them day in day out week in week out
didnt cheat them
or
they cheat you
it
usually worked out nicely
it worked out nice inevitably
until you asked for a raise
-- You really want to go ahead and ruin this
deal
-- No I
really want a larger portion of what youre making off my labor
Or you can show me your billings
or estimates and prove me wrong
-- When I worked for a man I never asked for a
raise And I appreciated my raise when
I
earned it
-- See many raises
--
-- No
You didnt And thats you I simply want more of the money you make on
me
Lets not be greedy you dont have
a man in the field that outworks me
You have me work alone because no one else you have can keep up with me
You toss me an occasion lackey and in a
couple of weeks hes gone too
Still works for you
But
with someone else on another crew
These men talk worse than senile old
ladies
Your men
and the next Friday
he
would ask his worth on a Friday
hed have
his raise
and disregarding their sneer hed thank them as if the raise had been their
idea all
along
some of them even came away from
the raise saying it was their idea
theyd coopt it
but the following year
-- You really want to ruin this
deal
he often wondered if they had bad
short-term or long-term memory
he remembered no matter which
they conferred the end of their spectrum
-- Yup Ey
knows wha eym talkin bout
-- I wished you worked as hard as you
talked
If that spade youre holding would throw half as much dirt as your mouth
this trench
would have been cut a day ago
-- Ey talks becuz ya nevar does
-- No I
aint paid to talk
-- Then ya can listens
-- I aint paid to listen either
-- Eys sayin true things How can ya not listens to true things
-- Your true things smack of lies as I understand the truth of your things
-- Ma true things are true Honest-to-Goddess
he put the back of his dirty hand to his mouth to muffle a snort
-- Honest-to-Goddess
-- Fuckin A
-- Because a feminine god a womanly god would attest to your lies
Or theyre lies and you wouldnt have an Honest-to-God support
them
And I dont think youd jeopardise
your White Faith
Youre too weak to stand alone Honest-to-God
-- Wha
-- You understand me
Im done working with you
Ill finish the trench on my own faster than with you
So roll back into town Stop at
Weeds Likely hell put you on another crew tomorrow
And if he asks what transpired
out here
and you lie
Honest-to-Your-God Ill hear about it and well have our own Day
of Reckoning
Mothwings and all
he went back to his spade
his back to the
clown
and watched his shadow on the dirt
late in the day long shadows
he was pretty sure he had the cut
of his cloth but sometimes people as
people do
surprise you
he almost dug his way beyond his
the shadow before it moved silently away towards
his truck parked under the
trees
so silent he could hear fallen leaves break
under his boots
Silence was probably the best partner hed ever have
the raucous old shakin half-ton
marred it
but give it a minute and itd be
back
Honest-to-Goddess
what a clown
0051, Friday,
24 10. 14
