garbage man | Lanie in the City
August 6, 2012 by lanie belluz	1
“Why are kids in the bar?” “Because this is Decatur and kids are allowed in the bars since there’s no smoking.”
We were intermittently shooting in between kisses. I looked over and saw this guy and girl doing the same at the shuffleboard table. They reminded me of a straight version of Charlie and me. He had on a motorcycle shirt and a baseball cap and she a tank top – very similar to how we were dressed, too. They seemed to be as equally in to each other as Charlie and I. I thought about how nice it was that no one batted an eye at the two lesbians playing pool and kissing. A little boy came over and wanted to play. He grabbed a cue stick and I showed him how to hold it. After a couple shots he lost interest and ran off. I looked up and the couple from before were snugged up at the bar. Just then another guy came over – obviously, he knew them but then he put a proprietary arm across the woman’s chair. I frowned thinking, “It would have to be a very good friend of mine – probably only Ellen – to keep me from slapping their hand off and saying ‘Keep your hands to yourself.” Then, I thought, “Was I wrong about them?” the couple. I love people watching and reading people and situations. I often make up fictional characters when I observe. Which, I did earlier when Charlie and I were sitting at the bar.
“A woman comes up, he buys her a drink and they start to talk then she asks him what he does and he says he’s a garbage-man. Then, she leaves because women in those clubs always are looking for upwardly mobile men who have money. It’s always like this until one day he’s driving into town to drop off the recycling and he sees this woman on the side of the road with the hood of her car up. As he slows he sees her leaning on the side of the car with her head in her hands, her shoulders shaking. She’s crying. He pulls over and stops and gets out. The sound of his truck door closing causes the woman to jump and she suddenly has a look of panic. “Hey, it’s ok – I just want to help.” “She had had a bad day. She had just been laid off from her job and been rejected from the medical school she was trying to get in to. Now her car was overheating and she needed to get to an interview with the dean of her second choice school. He introduced himself, told her to go sit in the shade while he looked at the car. Used to dating douchy doctors who screwed around on their wives she thought he was the nicest man she’d ever met. After wrenching the steaming cap off the radiator and pouring in fluid he asked her if she’s like to grab a cup of coffee later. She did. Their love blossomed after that and they eventually got married.” “The first time anyone in town saw her on his arm they couldn’t believe it. Every man envied him, every woman took a second look at him and wondered why she never noticed him before. Despite having the worst job in the world he got to come home to the most beautiful woman in the world. She eventually graduated with honors from medical school and told him to quit that garbage job that’d put her through med school– that he was going to become a kept man. As he drove by in his new pickup truck that she had gotten him for his birthday the people in the town would wave – no longer seeing him as an imbecile. He waved back, remembering their patronizing looks from before. He knew it was because of his wife, status and money they thought different of him. He didn’t care – all the money in the world didn’t matter as long as he had her. He was still the hard working garbage man in his own mind – and, the luckiest man alive as long as she was by his side.” “That’s a nice story, baby.”
“Thanks, baby.” I am that garbage man.
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One thought on “garbage man”	Bathwater says:	August 9, 2012 at 6:17 pm	Well if you you think you are that character…I am happy for you it sounds like you are living the dream enjoy every moment but I think there is more to you than the story tells.
garbage man | Lanie in the City
August 6, 2012 by lanie belluz	1
“Why are kids in the bar?” “Because this is Decatur and kids are allowed in the bars since there’s no smoking.”
We were intermittently shooting in between kisses. I looked over and saw this guy and girl doing the same at the shuffleboard table. They reminded me of a straight version of Charlie and me. He had on a motorcycle shirt and a baseball cap and she a tank top – very similar to how we were dressed, too. They seemed to be as equally in to each other as Charlie and I. I thought about how nice it was that no one batted an eye at the two lesbians playing pool and kissing. A little boy came over and wanted to play. He grabbed a cue stick and I showed him how to hold it. After a couple shots he lost interest and ran off. I looked up and the couple from before were snugged up at the bar. Just then another guy came over – obviously, he knew them but then he put a proprietary arm across the woman’s chair. I frowned thinking, “It would have to be a very good friend of mine – probably only Ellen – to keep me from slapping their hand off and saying ‘Keep your hands to yourself.” Then, I thought, “Was I wrong about them?” the couple. I love people watching and reading people and situations. I often make up fictional characters when I observe. Which, I did earlier when Charlie and I were sitting at the bar.
“A woman comes up, he buys her a drink and they start to talk then she asks him what he does and he says he’s a garbage-man. Then, she leaves because women in those clubs always are looking for upwardly mobile men who have money. It’s always like this until one day he’s driving into town to drop off the recycling and he sees this woman on the side of the road with the hood of her car up. As he slows he sees her leaning on the side of the car with her head in her hands, her shoulders shaking. She’s crying. He pulls over and stops and gets out. The sound of his truck door closing causes the woman to jump and she suddenly has a look of panic. “Hey, it’s ok – I
 just want to help.” “She had had a bad day. She had just been laid off from her job and been rejected from the medical school she was trying to get in to. Now her car was overheating and she needed to get to an interview with the dean of her second choice school. He introduced himself, told her to go sit in the shade while he looked at the car. Used to dating douchy doctors who screwed around on their wives she thought he was the nicest man she’d ever met. After wrenching the steaming cap off the radiator and pouring in fluid he asked her if she’s like to grab a cup of coffee later. She did. Their love blossomed after that and they eventually got married.” “The first time anyone in town saw her on his arm they couldn’t believe it. Every man envied him, every woman took a second look at him and wondered why she never noticed him before. Despite having the worst job in the world he got to come home to the most beautiful woman in the world. She eventually graduated with honors from medical school and told him to quit that garbage job that’d put her through med school– that he was going to become a kept man. As he drove by in his new pickup truck that she had gotten him for his birthday the people in the town would wave – no longer seeing him as an imbecile. He waved back, remembering their patronizing looks from before. He knew it was because of his wife, status and money they thought different of him. He didn’t care – all the money in the world didn’t matter as long as he had her. He was still the hard working garbage man in his own mind – and, the luckiest man alive as long as she was by his side.” “That’s a nice story, baby.”
“Thanks, baby.” I am that garbage man.
This entry was posted in Charlie, pool. Bookmark the permalink.
← big day, big announcement	chex mix Friday →
One thought on “garbage man”	Bathwater says:	August 9, 2012 at 6:17 pm	Well if you you think you are that character…I am happy for you it sounds like you are living the dream enjoy every moment but I think there is more to you than the story tells.