EUGENE

My best friend’s Dad got us a summer job at the window manufacturing plant he worked at. Being a teenager, lazy, irresponsible, and self centered, We were at best, a pain to have around.

The day started this way: Being awake before the Sun was, Riding in a car, that frankly, you could hang meat in it was so cold (Donnie’s dad must not have known that the car had a heater too). Arriving at a place that was not the beach, that was hot, and there was …. Work. Being worthless, we were given the menial tasks to do, one little thing after the other. Oh, and don’t forget inventory, I remember being on a shelf nearly four stories high, with nothing but the metal roof above me, cooked by the noon day sun, it was so hot, I could barely breathe. There I was, counting screws. Really? Not just one huge box, but millions of huge boxes.

It became apparent to the owner that we were worthless, but being the son (and friend of said son) of one of his best men (Donnie’s Dad), This owner had to find a way to make us do the honorable thing, and quit! So, This man also had a construction company, and he had a project, and it turned out, me and Donnie were a perfect fit for the job. It was of little comfort that there were a few of his other employees there that he valued as much as us was sent along too.

After being driven off to a remote area of the world, the car stopped, and we were instructed to get out. This boys will be your job for the rest of the summer. We both lifted our eyes to the largest field of dirt I have ever seen. We were told, “Go through this field, and pick up any sticks you see this size or larger” Looking up at this person, I saw him holding a stick about one inch long… Really?

So off we went, bending over, and “Picking up sticks” when low and behold, we saw these vehicles roaming the field. Huge machines, with Huge tires, long bodies, and they were filled with new dirt. Really? I later learned that the huge trucks (Later were used on the first Star Wars Movie) were called pavescrapers. Their job… To spread new dirt, with new sticks over all the areas that we just picked… Really?

Then it happened (As if this story alone isn’t enough to burn an image for the rest of my life) I saw it… Eugene, that’s right, one of the other most valued aluminum window making employee. We were taking one of our few allowed breaks, and I was sucking water like a camel, but here was Eugene, in the middle of this field of dirt, sitting, and shoes off, socks off, picking his feet. Man… if I knew any way to scrub that image. But there is it, Eugene… Really?