Empty Nest

The cosmic balance was brought back into order as my heavenly night is followed by the morning from hell!

In ill-fitting borrowed steel-toed boots, mismatched work gloves, a smelly hardhat, and barely held together high-vis vest I am run ragged by my gravely voiced foreman. Because I hadn’t a certificate to my name nor any qualifications to run any of the equipment I was relegated to being pure brute labor for anybody that barked. So low was I on the pecking order they didn’t even bother to learn my name. ‘New boy, where’s that drywall?’, ‘New boy, fill that wheelbarrow and get it over here. Now!’, ‘New boy, grab the other side of this.’, ‘New boy, are you STILL unloading that truck?’, ‘New boy, where’s that fuckin drywall!?’, and so on and so on. I’d heard it so often I started to actually believe my name was Newboy.

I was not accustomed to the rough and tumble of this kind of work environment, neither physically nor mentally. My employment thus far in my life had been unpleasant but undemanding customer service jobs that had done nothing to prepare me for grueling, dusty hours under the hot sun. I was also more used to working in a mixed gender environment of similarly uninspired complainers and slackers just trying to make it through the day. It wasn’t like that here! The ratio was at least 8 to 1 men to women. With that much testosterone in the air the humor was crude and the empathy non-existent. Say or do one wrong thing and you were either laughed at or verbally eviscerated in front of everybody, generally both.

It was survival of the fittest out here. If I hadn’t have still been riding the high from the night before I’m not sure I would have lasted an hour. But I was determined that, no matter how bad it got, I would see this first day to its end. I didn’t want to let her down. I wanted to do her proud. And I wanted to prove to myself that I wasn’t a quitter. But holy hell did I suffer!

It was just before lunch break when I hear another bark my way. “New boy!”

“Yes, Sir.” I say through hard breaths, my body automatically heading toward the source of the voice.

“Yer Mom’s here.” Foreman thumbs back over his shoulder. Beyond the blue steel fence I see Heather looking absolutely radiant as she peered into this realm of dirt and lumber and gravel. To my eyes it was as if the clouds parted to allow a single ray to shine on only her. She looks this way and that with a paper bag held in both hands. “Ya got five minutes!”

“Awww, new boy’s mommy brought him lunch.” I hear one of the guys tease to the laughter of everyone in earshot.

Ignoring the quip I hurry as quickly as my weary legs would carry me. Her eyes searching for me Heather stands patiently enduring the cat calls and wolf whistles of the nearby workers. Far from offended she seemed mildly amused by all of the attention. When she does finally spot me her face lights up and with just that one bright, genuine smile upon seeing me she makes me forget all of my struggles.

“HEY!” I bellow at my crass coworkers. “A little respect for the lady!”

Surprised at the new boy’s sudden mettle I actually manage to shut the animals up for a few minutes.

“Would you look at you!” Heather says as I near the fence, smile beaming. She looks me up and down. “So rugged! So dirty!” She leans close and takes a big sniff. “So smelly!”

I laugh. “Hello, Heather.”

“Hello Elliot. Um.” She looks back and forth looking for a gap in the fence to pass me my lunch. In the end she just passes it over the top. “How’s it going?”

“It’s tough. Real tough.”

“But so are you.” She says.

“We’ll see.” I say. “I’m not doing any actual building yet. I guess if I work out they’re sending me on a two-day safety course in a couple of weeks.”

“Everybody has to start somewhere.” She says, her brows furrowing. “What are these boots your wearing?”

“Hm? Oh, it’s just a loaner pair they keep in the office.”

“They’re too big. You’re going to get blisters. And those gloves!”

“I know.” I say. “We’re supposed to bring our own stuff but, um, until I get my first check…”

“We’ll get you ready.”

“We? Heather…”

“What do you need?”

“Heather…”

“Don’t argue. What do you need Elliot?”

“Um, safety boots is the main one. And gloves. They provide the rest.”

“Mm hm. Shoe size?”

“Nine and a half.”

“I’ll pick you up some good ones and some gloves this afternoon. You can take them with you tomorrow.” Before I can protest she adds. “It’s just a loan. You can pay me back when you get the money. Okay?”

“Heather…you don’t have to do this.”

“And let all these guys think that your Mama’s not looking after you?” She laughs. “That will not stand.”

“These guys can be, um, really rude.”

“They’re just saying what they think they’re seeing. It’s okay, Elliot.”

“No, it’s not. I’ll let them know.”

“If you feel like you must.” She smiles. “I’m buying you some boots, Elliot.”

“Okay.” My sigh turns to a chuckle. “Not much use in arguing I guess.”

“None at all.” She nods to the bag. “I knew you’d be a hungry man so I packed extra.”

I hug the lunch to my chest. “I don’t deserve you, Heather.”

“Probably not.” She winks. “But you’re stuck with me for at least a little.”

“New boy!”

“Damn. I gotta go.”

“Okay. When do you get off? I thought I’d take you out for pizza. To celebrate your first day.”

“I don’t know, honestly. Technically 4:30 but I guess I’ve got a bunch of stuff to read and sign before I go today.”

Taking a step back from the fence she asks. “Call if you’re going to be later than 6? I’ll start to get worried otherwise.”

“Yeah.” I say. “I’ll call. Um…see at home?”

“I’ll be there, handsome.”

Despite the shouts for my attention I stand a moment bewitched by the wide swaying hips walking away from me.

My lunch of roast beef sandwiches, cheese, pickles, fruit, vegetables, sports drink and a danish was enough for two hungry men.

“Damn, new boy’s Mommy feeds him well.”

“Damn right.” I say right back. “And she’s not my Mom. She’s a good friend.”

This stops conversation for a beat…before all start hooting in unison. “OHHHHH!”

They tease me about being a milf-hunter and make some terrible comments about her robbing the cradle and talk about how they wished that they had ‘a good friend’ as sexy as her who brings them food but, hiding a smile the whole time, I blithely ignore them and eat my delicious lunch. They could think whatever the hell they wanted to think. In fact, I wanted them to think the worst.

Physically the afternoon was far worse than the morning, my poor out of shape body was simply reaching its limits, but my full belly and rejuvenated spirits keep me moving one task, one lift, one shuffling step at a time. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, the call for quitting time comes at last.

You could have knocked me over with a feather, quite literally given my exhausted state, when one of the guys I’d been working closely with gives me a nudge. “Ya wanna grab a beer, man?”

“Huh?”

“We got a pub a few blocks South we go to.” Says another.

“They don’t care if we’re dirty.” Says another.

“They take our money just as well.” Says yet another. “And the all the waitresses have big fat TITTIEEES. HAWOOOO!”

As they laugh I try and make sense of it. I thought these guys hated me. “Um…sorry, I can’t tonight.”

“Homeboy’s got some big titties of his own to get back to.”

“OHHHHH!”

I laugh with them this time, despite myself. “You are such an ass, Diego.”

“Don’t you run off.” The foreman startles me by coming up behind and slapping my shoulder. “You got some paperwork to do before you let these reprobates be a bad influence on you.”

“Says the head reprobate.” Diego chortles. “You comin boss?”

“After this.” The foreman takes me back to the office while he finishes up with a few calls and some paperwork he has me sit with a three inch thick binder of rules, procedures, and even the history and corporate culture of the company that I was working for. I do my best but as dog tired as I was the painfully boring words all just blur together. At just past five he pushes away from his desk. “Take it with ya.”

“Um. Yes, Sir.”

“You’ll never get through it in a night. Just sign all the papers at the back and make sure you have it read by Monday.” He says. “If anyone asks though, you’ve read it.”

“Uh, okay. I will.”

He grins and gives me a nod. “Ya did good. You’re a worker and that’s what we want here. I think you’re going to work out just fine, Elliot.”

Elliot? He actually knew my name!