hands.
Yeah, it's been done before. Looking at my own hands, reading my own story. Finished up at work last night at midnight, roughly. Had to be back at 0730. Only happens once a year, this was the week. It's cold on The Dock now, trucks run with the windows rolled up. Knuckles cracked and bleeding, time to get some new gloves. Fell today, from the racks, pallet slat broke, landed on the battery box. Tucked up to avoid hitting my head, took it in the back and shoulder, knocked the wind out a little. Jumped right up, I'm okay. Not wanting to let anyone think that it hurt. Damn sore now. Boss makes me complete an accident report.
"Just in case you wake up with a lung full of blood". Don't think that will happen, but it's a company rule.
Yeah, so I'm smokin' a cigarette when I notice my hands. Got some grease and hydraulic oil on them, line burst on a piece of equipment earlier. Murphy's Law kind of a week it's been. I stub out my smoke and head for the latrine to wash my hands. Industrial type hand cleaner, stings my cracked and bleeding knuckles. Have to help a couple of old guys finish up before we call it a day. I just want to get the hell out of there but I don't. I stay and help out. Old guys, yeah like in their fifties maybe. You can hear their knees creak and pop, better than sixty years on The Dock between the two of them. I don't want to end up like that, but I will.
Just took a break, had to take the dogs out. Cold rain falling, it's perfect. I keep writing the next few lines. I keep deleting them. Cigarettes, the downfall of civilization as we know it. Skynyrd on the radio...."Tuesday's gone with the wind".....Billy Powell ticklin' the ivory keyboard. Heard it said by some, Skynyrd's white trash Rock&Roll. Guess I'm white trash. It's a lot more day to day real for us, it says what it means without any bullshit. Fiction's just a fancy word for bullshit. After work today, I stop at the store. Want to hear the end of a Springsteen song on the radio, it just started. I park away, no other vehicles around. I light a smoke and kick back, diggin' The Boss. Should have seen the look I got from this smartly dressed low life yuppie couple who decided to park near my old Jeep. I realized it was the cigarette, got a little self righteous in my mind. The guy looked about my age, few years younger maybe. I'm thinkin' screw them. I'm thinkin' about how I served my country once. I'm thinkin' about Desert Storm back in '91. I'm thinkin' this guy was probably at some frat party lightin' his farts in a drunken stupor while we were moving north lightin' up the Republican Guard so he could put gas in the new Jetta his father got him for a high school graduation present. Then I start thinkin' about all that stuff I was thinkin'. So now I'm thinkin' about how stupid that all is. Now I'm thinkin', don't be a jerk Mr. Yuppie. I'm thinkin', why the hell did they park so close anyway? There was at least two dozen parking spaces closer to the store. Then it hit me. It's the new car he's driving. It's a friggin' Lexus, a real nice one too. He's parking away so no one smacks it with a cart or something. Now that makes sense, but still. Mr. Yuppie should know that there is a price to pay for everything. If your'e parking away, to keep your nice new car looking all nice and new, then your'e going to have to tolerate my cigarette and Thunder Road blasting out of the three speakers that still work in my old Jeep.
Yeah, I have to get some new work gloves, it's that time of year again.
Hey Tommy, how about it bro? You believe these people man?.........Yeah I know.........No man, those young guys at work said it's not going to happen...........No, they said they came up with lots of ideas. Some good, some not............Okay, what happened was this. They all got together like they said they were gonna..........Right........That's right man, he ain't gonna go for it. He said he was glad they were all tryin' to help but.........Yup, he's going if the army calls him back......Yeah I knew it too, had to let them try though..........Yeah I will.....Cool.......Okay, I'll give that a try. I'm still gettin' me some new work gloves though.......Yeah, same here. Later bro.
"Just in case you wake up with a lung full of blood". Don't think that will happen, but it's a company rule.
Yeah, so I'm smokin' a cigarette when I notice my hands. Got some grease and hydraulic oil on them, line burst on a piece of equipment earlier. Murphy's Law kind of a week it's been. I stub out my smoke and head for the latrine to wash my hands. Industrial type hand cleaner, stings my cracked and bleeding knuckles. Have to help a couple of old guys finish up before we call it a day. I just want to get the hell out of there but I don't. I stay and help out. Old guys, yeah like in their fifties maybe. You can hear their knees creak and pop, better than sixty years on The Dock between the two of them. I don't want to end up like that, but I will.
Just took a break, had to take the dogs out. Cold rain falling, it's perfect. I keep writing the next few lines. I keep deleting them. Cigarettes, the downfall of civilization as we know it. Skynyrd on the radio...."Tuesday's gone with the wind".....Billy Powell ticklin' the ivory keyboard. Heard it said by some, Skynyrd's white trash Rock&Roll. Guess I'm white trash. It's a lot more day to day real for us, it says what it means without any bullshit. Fiction's just a fancy word for bullshit. After work today, I stop at the store. Want to hear the end of a Springsteen song on the radio, it just started. I park away, no other vehicles around. I light a smoke and kick back, diggin' The Boss. Should have seen the look I got from this smartly dressed low life yuppie couple who decided to park near my old Jeep. I realized it was the cigarette, got a little self righteous in my mind. The guy looked about my age, few years younger maybe. I'm thinkin' screw them. I'm thinkin' about how I served my country once. I'm thinkin' about Desert Storm back in '91. I'm thinkin' this guy was probably at some frat party lightin' his farts in a drunken stupor while we were moving north lightin' up the Republican Guard so he could put gas in the new Jetta his father got him for a high school graduation present. Then I start thinkin' about all that stuff I was thinkin'. So now I'm thinkin' about how stupid that all is. Now I'm thinkin', don't be a jerk Mr. Yuppie. I'm thinkin', why the hell did they park so close anyway? There was at least two dozen parking spaces closer to the store. Then it hit me. It's the new car he's driving. It's a friggin' Lexus, a real nice one too. He's parking away so no one smacks it with a cart or something. Now that makes sense, but still. Mr. Yuppie should know that there is a price to pay for everything. If your'e parking away, to keep your nice new car looking all nice and new, then your'e going to have to tolerate my cigarette and Thunder Road blasting out of the three speakers that still work in my old Jeep.
Yeah, I have to get some new work gloves, it's that time of year again.
Hey Tommy, how about it bro? You believe these people man?.........Yeah I know.........No man, those young guys at work said it's not going to happen...........No, they said they came up with lots of ideas. Some good, some not............Okay, what happened was this. They all got together like they said they were gonna..........Right........That's right man, he ain't gonna go for it. He said he was glad they were all tryin' to help but.........Yup, he's going if the army calls him back......Yeah I knew it too, had to let them try though..........Yeah I will.....Cool.......Okay, I'll give that a try. I'm still gettin' me some new work gloves though.......Yeah, same here. Later bro.
posted by Squarehead at 6:06 PM
4 Comments:
Take it from one of the "old guys." Me. (snort...) Put Neosporin+Pain on all the cracks, then rub a ton of vaseline over your hands. Then put on some old gloves. Then go to bed. I have to do this every winter, and the closer I get to 60, the more important it gets. Cracked knuckles damn HURT!
Thanks for that Okay. I'll give it a try. As far as the "old guys" go, well perhaps I wasn't clear. What I meant was this. These guys are only in their fifties, they look a lot older. Thirty plus years on The Dock takes it's toll. At fourty-four, I'm not far behind them on the calender, but I'm new to The Dock. It will show on me too, another ten years and I'll be one of the "old guys". No offense intended.
Great imagery. Atmospheric. Candid. Cold. Desolate. Raw. Real. Hard. Truth.
Keep up the awesome writing. It rocks!
Thank you Alexys, means a lot to me.
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