A nice day today, though I am indoors, in air conditioning. I heard that it was quite humid out today, the air quite thick. Back at the fruit stand that I like. It’s Marcus’ penultimate day at the fruit stand. I believe it is the only job that he has had, having come to the fruit stand right out of college. 7 years is enough for him and I sort of understand his point of view. He’s in his thirties and looking to make a change. And he has a child that he is trying to place in private school and that costs a lot of money.

Janis mentioned how much Marcus made, and compared it to how much she has made. It’s more than me that’s for sure. Janis and I are closer in income than Marcus and me, or Marcus and Janis. I bear no grudge and have no jealousy.

I remember working at the HBJ warehouse. Laszlo, who I used to work with had left, moving onto something else. He was out of the employment picture and when we crossed paths again, he belittled me for remaining where I was. That set me off and I wound up looking for work elsewhere.

My luck was running out at the book publishing company anyway. A company called the 1330 Company swept me up. They were based somewhere in Tennessee or Kentucky. The job was to drive around in their van, using their tools and materials and go to dentist offices to place racks for pamphlets and whatever regarding modern dentistry and procedures.

Once when in training I took the HBJ van to go to a seminar in Queens by LaGuardia airport. This was back in the day when smoking was allowed everywhere. I was also smoking pot at that time and would stash a joint in the pack of Marlboros I was smoking.

A crumb of the joint fell out and wound up in the cigarette. I lit up and was oblivious to the situation and wondered why everyone was looking at me ‘that way’. It didn’t matter, I had the job and soon left HBJ for the 1330 company. It was not a good fit and I left a few months later.

A friend of mine, Kartha Meavney, got me a job at the messenger company she worked with, En Route. It was right around the corner from where I am right now. That was not a good fit either and I left that job for Friedman, Alpren and Greene, an accounting firm that was at 53rd and Broadway. It was a grown-up job working with Tyree Thomas and Patricia McKnight.

Tyree was a good guy, he had a plan for us to all get together for New Years Eve in 1999. It never happened. I left Freidman Alpren and Greene soon after that, after I felt snubbed by some coworkers on Broadway. I was walking down Broadway, they were walking up.

I said hello and they acted like they didn’t know me. It was a good job though but my ego was wounded. It was also where I bought my Fender acoustic guitar and sang across the street after work in McCann’s bar. I sang Dirty Old Town and Walking After Midnight

Back at the main fruit stand. It’s the first Wednesday in August. Yancy was here when I came in. Janis arrived. I sat at Janis’ desk for a while, then Yancy had me shift to where he was sitting, which is where Violet usually sits. Violet is out. She was ill yesterday. I found out sitting at her desk and was reassured that Yancy wiped everything down.

It’s not my humble working abode of course. Things that are suppsed to carry over from fruit stand to fruit stand, from computer to computer, do not, despite Yancy proclaiming they do. I can’t argue with him so I stand with my tail between my legs. Just now, a fruit picker from the fields was asking about gloves.

I know where the gloves are, but assigning the gloves doesn’t happen often, rendering me ‘rusty’. This bloke was young and impatient. I was not processing the glove request fast enough for him and after 2 attempts he gave up saying he had to get back to the fields. I continued trying to figure out how to assign his temporary gloves, and stood near the door to find out.

I got a green light when the young bloke walked by, not saying anything. I turned and gave him the green lit gloves and said ‘here’. Then I walked away headed back to Violet’s desk. Perhaps my memory is shot. Perhaps smoking weed for all those years left my brain looking like Swiss cheese and leaving me unable to remember much.

It’s true. I thought it was charming years ago, but now it’s catching up to me as my charm fades away.

Tonight is the night Bill and I had hoped for for a year or two, the return of Ted Lasso. A new season which is much needed. I have been rewatching previous seasons to catch up as well as to get some positivity in my life. And it worked. Now there is trepidation as to how good the return will be. Old faces won’t be on board; some new faces. And it’s a women’s football league rather than the men’s league. We have high hopes and great expectations and are jaded enough to realize that things might not turn out as we hope them to be.

My lunch time is the same though in a different method. At my fruit stand, I sometimes get food and eat it while working. That is frowned upon.

I was just caught short once again. A woman from the left coast needed some activation which is something I had never done before and being a solo act at the moment I could not do it and did not want to keep them from their lunch meeting.

And now questions of which I have no answer. I kick the can down the road, telling them that Janis will be returning in a few minutes and will have all the answers to whatever questions they might have. I explained that I was the deer in the headlights and even placed my open hands to my head in a pantomime of antlers which got a giggle and could bite me in the ass.