Working overtime for extra pay at least at the Grubhub
which was better than working at Jewel in the 80s punching
out and then working overtime for no pay he didn’t
explain why he never reported it he described being set
up as a delivery boy in Chicago he was robbed but not
at knife point there were five of them and one of him they
threw his keys into a parking lot nowadays nobody tips
you for delivering Taco Bell at some point I mentioned
getting a ticket on Vistula for going 60 where the speed
limit is 30 and it’s true but I’m not sure why I felt it necessary
to reveal that information except that we were driving too
slowly down Vistula rich dudes are the worst I also added
but didn’t elaborate how they were the ones driving Saabs
and BMWs when I was collecting gate fees at the county park
where I was a ranger for a few years nobody complained other
than the guys wearing shades and sport coats while I kept an
eye on the wasps no breeze and dust and hot they just wanted
to lick the old wood of the gatehouse crawl into a corner
and bore into a seam fly away chewing the grain into a mud
paste for the nest but now I was on my way in a shuttle
to pick up my car with a group of people one guy who used
to make 15 dollars an hour at Costco and all I really wanted
was to slide my card into the goddamn chip reader at the
dealership and be done with it but instead ended up sharing
pictures with my service coordinator I showed her pictures
of large crappie I’d caught in the river and she likewise shared
pictures of crappie she’d pulled from Lake Erie slabs I hesitate
to call them because crappie are so delicate in the sunlight
sparkling you might even call them petite I also shared a couple
of pictures of a pike not petite at all heavy blood foaming out of
its gills and then there she is with her boyfriend holding 5 smallmouth
bass on a beach I have to pay for new brake pads but
fuck it who cares I’ll grill some bratwurst smoke an American
Spirit drink a glass of white wine because beer clogs my nasal
passages nowadays though I’m not suffering the loss of
a favorite IPA because I never bothered to have a favorite IPA
and the sky today looks like a kind of blue minimalism
like a pencil line running all the way around the world you
could reach out and snap it against the edge of the universe
like a chalk line on drywall I’ll light the gas grill and it will
whoosh on and there will be an oriole in the honey locust
my service coordinator said I know there is a walleye on here
and kept scrolling through her phone I knew I had one on my
phone too I don’t know where it is she said frustrated I said
I believe you I didn’t say anything about my walleye I’d
said enough about the pike already how it was 40 inches long
I already felt foolish everything’s spawning I think I also said
I can’t find the picture she said the point is the fishing in the
river’s fantastic I said but we were done I had my keys back
she could clock out pretty soon even though the Grubhub guy
was still waiting for his car but I was all set the lilacs were
blossoming all over and you could smell them with the windows
rolled down the roads were fucked up full of potholes but it
was 70 degrees and sunny and you could probably walk beside
a briar patch alongside a creek and not get a single mosquito bite
I signed electronically for the parts and labor she said well
don’t catch all the fish in that river I said ha ha ha I’ll try not
to I got back into my car like I was ready to participate in
a parade but of course it was still just my Nissan I was relieved
anyway I drove mostly the speed limit all the way home it
was rush hour everyone had to stop on McKinley and wait
for two mallards to cross the road nobody honked the ducks
were in no hurry the guy in the car behind me was vaping he
saw me looking at him in my rearview mirror and he saluted