A dreary gray Monday morning, this third Monday in August. It was a gloomy weekend, tinged by the blues. Jimmy Chile dropping a bomb on Friday before leaving for the day made Saturday and Sunday collateral damage. More Saturday than Sunday.

I came home Friday night and within 10 minutes I was out of my clothes and doing laundry. It was the third weekend without Mike being around and it was OK on our end and Mike did not say it was like being in jail. That’s his usual line when he is told to stay home by his parole officer. When it’s a voluntary position, it’s not like prison, I reckon.

I have been at the fruit stand for 3 hours and have seen 2 people. That’s it. I’m not complaining but when I hear I should be more of a team player, it’s not easy when there is no one around to be a team player with.

Saturday was the day of the blues. I went to the supermarket with Bill and that was OK. He wanted to know what was going on. I mentioned Jimmy Chile, I mentioned that not going anywhere this summer was getting me down as it has been two summers in a row. He claimed he couldn’t afford it, but if he had let me know I could have done something and perhaps saved some extra money. But Bill does not like to talk about money or sex.

I was thinking about getting a haircut and did have an idea to get up early on Saturday to do just that. But I slept in instead, which was good. I keep catching my reflection and thinking I look like my brother Frank which is a bit unnerving. Frank’s widow Elaine is having a tough time with her house.

I spoke with Elaine last week and listened to her tale of woe. I plan on going out there, perhaps in a week or two. I have gone out there a few times already and my sister Annemarie was compelled to tell me I should go out there again. Elaine could have asked but she wouldn’t. And no one asks Brian and so Annemarie took it up herself to tell me what I should do, stamping my ticket for a guilt trip.

I don’t ask for much, I do enjoy my Sunday bike rides, it is good for the heart and mind and soul but apparently I should rearrange that for people who complain they never hear from me even if their phones have my number programmed into them should they ever have a need to call me.

Needless to say, I plan on going up the last Saturday in August. The next weekend is somewhat booked already and that depends on the weather.

Bill and I watched Project Hail Mary on Thursday. We both enjoyed it. We watched Gravity last Monday. It starred Sandra Bullock. It was good, and had me at the edge of my seat. In-between Gravity and Project Hail Mary, we finally got around to finish watching Hacks which we both enjoyed.

Annemarie texted me about it a few weeks ago. I thought we had finished it, but apparently we didn’t. Happy Days Are Here Again and Get Happy by Barbra Streisand & Judy Garland was the ending theme. Hacks involved making end of life decisions and that was also touched upon in Project Hail Mary.

Bill and I also enjoyed Brilliant Minds, ever so loosely based on Dr. Oliver Sacks books, placed in this modern era. That show was cancelled and so there was no closure following the final episode which definitely left us hanging, knowing that no one else would be picking up the show. At least Hacks gave us closure.

Last night we watched Merrily We Roll Along. It was good, and I suppose I will watch it again. Then we watched a documentary on the original Broadway cast in 1981 and how the show closed after 16 performances, greatly affecting the lives of these young people.

We had seen it before, and it seemed most apt after watching the latest version with Jonathan Groff, Daniel Radcliffe and Lindsey Mendez. Even though they are the three leads, it’s mostly about Franklin Sheppard played by Jonathan Groff.

At work I find myself missing Marcus and Jimmy Chile. Brian who has been filling in for the housekeeper is leaving Friday. Brian was bemoaning turning 33 in October. I am 30 years older than him.

Noel Walls worked with Andy Johnson, Mike Nathanson, Bruce Cipriani and Julie Diemer. Andy Johnson may have been my former classmate & friend Kevin Wagner’s cousin. Mike Nathanson was an impish busybody, Julie Diemer was a proto yuppie and Bruce Cipriani had a nice ass and his thinning hair added to his testosterone-fueled image. He was hot, and he knew it. Noel Walls smoked Merits I believe and was handsome in an off brand way.

They were the new managers that came in after John Vasicek was discovered to have been embezzling from Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. He took down Paul LoPresti, Dave Manzo, Harold Wind, Larry IoliTony Grega and a few other malcontents.

There were a handful of employees that saw an opportunity to take advantage of the vacuum that was created. There was a guy named Cliff who had the job of driving from Saddle Brook to Manhattan twice a day.

Cliff maintained his employment but he was not going to be driving into Manhattan anymore. I had driven across the country with Perry Dedovitch the previous year and offered my services to replace Cliff.

My previous supervisor, Dave Manzo had been let go, he was Paul LoPresti’s pet. For some reason I went with Nick Lattanzio to visit Dave Manzo and see if he was holding up, not realizing that Dave Manzo did not like me at all. It didn’t matter, I was still employed and he was not.

My trips to Manhattan were exciting. I would get to East 47th Street before noon and park in a garage that was just for the van I was driving. I would distribute the mail in the offices and pick up mail to go back to Saddle Brook.
It was while in the mailroom I became friends with Jet Watley. I heard him playing King Crimson’s ‘The Sheltering Sky ‘on his rinky dink cassette player and we started talking about music.

Eventually we would get high at lunchtime. There was a cement park outside of the office building at 47th and Second Ave. It seemed to me that there were hundreds of professionals like Jet and me outside and getting high only we were not that professional.

I eventually found a weed dealer who would sell me decent half ounces for about $30. There were plenty of stems and seeds, but it was still pretty good weed.

Things are happening at the fruit stand. Whether or not they are for the better remains to be seen. I’m not happy about it, but it is not my life or career, though it will trigger my separation anxieties.

I write about work from over 40 years ago, and here I am still toiling all these years later. The work has changed and so have I. Jet has been gone for over 30 years, most of the people I worked with in that Harcourt Brace Jovanovich book warehouse have more than likely kicked the bucket. Or perhaps, circling the drain.

I was a goof ball then, I would like to think I am more a refined goof ball these days but is that really an apt description? And today what I didn’t want seems to be coming to reality. Jimmy Chile has his eye on the door. He won’t even be at this fruit stand going forward. Sadness abounds