Back at the compound, I lay upon my rack pondering the terrible fact
that I had lurched on my fellow rubba-dubba-bubba workers in the VA
kitchen. I had quit at the beginning of the shift. Without yours truly
there doing his day-to-day chores, they were working harder now. I had
never had the honor of working with a better bunch, including the
supervisors ~ and now I had let them down. Damn damn damn!
And oh well.
When my roommate, the indomitable Quest, showed-up, we got not into a
raucous discussion concerning the upcoming elections, nor a heated
argument over the bully culture of his televison, nor aflame memories
of playing football ages ago in high school, or anything else. I was
mum. Whenever he started anything, all he got back was a "um hmmm,"
'til finally Quest too said nothing. He slipped his earphones on &
listened to politico-geronimo talk-radio shows & mellow-fellow jazz.
And my thoughts continued their jog around and around the track. I had
quit my job. And I had quit all the poor old & young, broken-down
& lame, lonesome & homeless, veteran-patients waiting for
dinner at the VA.
Oh well. Now what?
I couldn't talk to Quest about it. The last thing I needed or wanted
was his input. We'd both been living in the same scrawny cell for so
long that I knew exactly what his input would be: go to court and get a
pension! Well. I had other things to do this Spring. I glanced at the
backpack sitting ominously in the chair next to where I lay. The
backpack was already packed. It had been packed for about a year ~ now,
baby, now. I'd been living out of it for that long, anticipating a move
~ now, baby, now. My hand slipped into my pocket to make sure over $800
in cash was still there. It was still there ~ now, baby, now! The money
had been burning a hole in my pocket for about a week - had been $1,000
at first ~ was dribbling away, dribbling away fast. I had taken my loot
out of my credit-union account when I suspected the VA of whittling on
it to pay my unpayed new "co-payments." Now that I had a job for over a
year ~ although just a part-time job ~ their medical services were no
longer free. I was going to stick my loot in another bank. But guess
what? It must be time to go.
But first, I'd get a good night's sleep. Now, baby, now ~ tomorrow.
###