Counting Chickens

Its pretty busy around here this morning, seems I haven’t been true to my responsibilities over the last couple days. Don’t know how she’ll take the news, I think I’ll break it to her Monday Morning, for the weekend, I’ll just hang around, do the things important for her, try to really enjoy, the last couple full days, we will be spending together, for a while. I learned about these chickens from my mother, about how misleading, counting them can be. You know you hear something, sometimes hundreds of times, never understanding what it means, when you finley get it, when you see the sense that it makes, what’s hard to understand, is why it took so long to get it. The first thing I did, Thursday Morning, was to call Chase, the Bank that gave me a hundred dollar bonus, well they were supposed to give me a bonus, I had completed all the requirements, the previous day, and half expected to find the funds available, Buck and I were heading up to Santa Barbara on the train, with that bonus money in hand, who knows, maybe I could come back with a trinket or two, tying down a memory of the day. In retrospect, I was probably better off, finding out the funds were not yet available, that they “were pending”, glad I finley figured out that thing about counting chickens. Buck and I got train tickets the day before, we would leave the station 7:30 am, we planned to be early, I was a bit concerned about room for the bikes, I was told there were two bike racks per car, there would be limited space. There are lots of things I like about Buck, one of them is follow through! We worked together, on Hollywood and Vine, as partners, we’d fight each other, as to who got to do the work, who was support. In my trade, a lot of these guys working, will run from the work. On that job, at Hollywood and Vine, there was this kid, Buck and I called “Mr. Clean”, we had names for lots of the guys, this guy got his name by the way he came in, worked the day, then left. He was always clean, mostly long sleeve, white t shirts, spotless at the end of every day. We couldn’t figure out how he did it, he was a strong kid, our work is heavy and hard. Truly, we knew how he did it! my old friend, Craig Stull, had some wisdom on this subject, maybe at a later date, I’ll share that with you. As I walked into Union Station, I was early, there was Buck, even earlier than me, first in line. I have no kick stand, his bike was resting on its kick stand, I tried to rest my bike on his. He just sat and watched, he wasn’t surprised, he knew I was always good for a fumble, to start the day. I crash both bikes onto the floor, now he’s got something to say, here we go! I was a little rattled anyhow, I didn’t like being the last one getting to the station, the same kinda crap that goes on, when we work together, always a fight between us, over who has first shot. They roll up the door on the baggage car, lots of room for bikes, lots of open seats too, the Amtrak agent was never really clear about our seats. We end up moving to the lounge car, in the coach, Buck grabbed the window, I wanted to smoke one more, stayed out on the platform, ending up on the aisle. About three hours by train, we sat drinking some amtrak coffee, getting the view from the middle of the tracks. Two out of work Carpenters, surveying a slightly hopeless situation, seeing only a few tower crains, the tell tale sign of our work. In our trade, that’s the sign, that says help wanted. We go through the tunnel in chatsworth, I’m reminded of a girl, I start telling Buck about this girl, from about 37 years back, about the ten minutes or so, that I had spent with her, in that very tunnel. Its a nice train ride, you roll through the valley, through these tunnels, a little more urban sprawl, then you start passing farms. Living in a city like LA, as a boy, growing up in Chester County, I am always relieved, getting out in open space, it triggers memories, of simpler times in my life