Ch.3-First Day On The Job

Chapter 3

1

         Robert arrived at the school forty-five minutes early that morning. The drive had not been as bad as anticipated. There had been more traffic than he was accustomed to dealing with, but Robert was okay with it. He had known it would be a part of this profession, so he pushed all derogatory thoughts to the back of his head.

         The building was located in the hospital district of downtown. Robert circled the school a couple of times looking for the best place to park his car for the day. The structure was huge compared to the high school he went to. The front of the building spanned the entire block. Front to back was at least three quarters of a block maybe a little more. There were five square four-story pavilions. One in each of its four corners and one in the center up front. The style was Eclectic with both Gothic and Prairie School elements. There was a large set of cement stairs that lead up to the main entrance on the second floor. The main facade featured a red brick veneer with glazed cream colored terra cotta trim. Robert thought it looked a little like a castle.

         Across the street from the southeast corner of the building was a small parking lot. Judging from the pick up trucks filled with tools and building materials, Robert decided it was a good spot to park. Under a tree were five Hispanic men in cowboy hats sitting in folding lawn chairs. They were eating breakfast and using the bed of the truck as a table. He considered asking them if they knew where the electricians met up every morning, but from the sound of the Tejano music coming from their truck he didn't think they'd be much help.

         Robert sat for another ten minutes and drank the rest of his coffee, by then the parking lot was almost full. He decided it was about time to gather up his things and start heading inside. Robert said good bye to air conditioning, turned off the car and climbed out. The heat was already rising even before the sun was up. It was the later half of June and the triple digit temperatures were in full swing. He put on his hard hat, safety glasses and name badge. Then he slung his tool belt over his shoulder and grabbed his tool bag. He shut the door, locked it and headed inside.

         Robert walked through the parking lot toward the school. He flowed with the current in a sea of hard hats. As he passed a green truck he heard a voice. "Say man! Joo a electrician?"

         Robert stopped and turned around. He looked in the driver side window of the green truck. Inside sat a little Mexican guy wearing a hard hat. "Yes,I am." Robert answered. "Are you with Prodigy?"

         "Jess, I am." The little guy said. "It is my first day. Do you know where to go?"

         "No man, I was hoping you did." Robert responded. "I'm in the same boat. This is my first day too."

         Do you mind if I come witchoo, man?." The little guy asked climbing out of his vehicle.

         "Sure, that would be great."

         "Let me get my things. He started to turn around and stopped. He turned back to Robert and held out his hand. "My name is Saverio."

         "Robert." He said and shook his hand. "Good to meet you."

         Saverio grabbed his things. He carried a tool belt and bag that looked like it weighed as much as him. The two headed across the street and went in through the southeast entrance. Robert was astounded at what a disaster the place was. The ceiling was about fifteen feet high. The last four feet were a jumbled nest of wires, lights, insulation, ventilation ducts and data cables. Up and down the halls were stacks of desks, shelves, chairs, boxes and an assortment of other classroom supplies. The rooms had been emptied so that they could be refloored. What little bit of the tiled floor that could be seen was covered with a thick layer of dust.

         "Holy crap!" Robert exclaimed.

         "Jess, it is a mess. Huh?" Saverio said not sounding quite as surprised as Robert.

         "So any ideas where to go?" Robert asked.

         "Just keep your eyes peeled." Saverio suggested.

         "Peeled for what exactly? Well, obviously guys playing with wires and stuff like that. Anything else?"

         "Look at tools, man." Saverio pointed at Robert's tool belt. "That is how I found joo, man."

         Robert felt like a moron. He couldn't believe he didn't think of something that simple. He had thought about how he would find the electrician crew for hours. Never once did it cross his mind to look at tools. His brain had the tendency to think in reverse, always starting with the hardest solution first and exhausting himself before ever even getting to the simplest one. Robert could complicate a toaster without even trying.

         They passed a stairway and walked down the dark hall. Only a handful of lights were still burning leaving just enough light to see if there was something in front of them. The sound of power tools echoed through out the building. There was another staircase at the other end of the hall. Robert and Saverio decided to try the next floor.

         When they got to the second floor they could see the front doors down the hall to their right. Walking from that direction was a giant dressed in denim and work boots. Robert briefly envisioned the man dressed in spandex and sparkles like a wrestler from the 1980's. He noticed in his hands he was carrying tools, electrician tools!

         "How are you guys doin'?" The giant's voice boomed. "You guys must be the greenies."

         "The what?" Saverio asked Robert.

         "I think he means the new guys." Robert said to Saverio and then answered the giant. "Yep! That would be us. You're with Prodigy, right?"

         "Sure am.". He reached them and held out his hand. "Name's Sheldon. Welcome aboard. Come on, I'll show you where to sign in."

         Robert shook his hand and tried not to cringe as Sheldon's massive hand crushed his. Robert glanced over his tattoo covered arms and glimpsed something that looked like a dagger shoved up an ass. He released his grasp and continued upstairs to the third floor.

When they got up there Robert saw about ten other guys standing around the hall talking and cutting up. The three men walked across the hall and entered room 322. When Robert stepped into the room he was hit by a rush of cool air. The room was extremely windy and loud. Half of the room was taken up by a large machine that circulated air through out the building. The large device was roughly the size of a lawnmower shed. There were several air ducts coming from it and going into the walls heading in several directions. The little space left in the room was filled with large tool chests ,pipes, wires, and other building materials. On a long table, which was actually a walk through metal detector laid on its side, was a clipboard. Sheldon wrote something on it then handed it to Saverio.

         "Here you go guys, sign in."

         They both signed the sheet and put the clipboard back on the makeshift table. Robert turned to Sheldon and asked. "So, what happens now?"

         "Now?" Sheldon asked with a grin. "The fun begins!"

2

         A couple of hours later Robert and Saverio were in the back parking lot. They were unloading light fixtures from a portable storage box. The lights were to be hauled up to the fourth floor for installation. The two greenies had been assigned to work with a seasoned electrician named Donnie and his shadow Derrick.

         Donnie and Derrick were an inseparable pair on the job site. Donnie was a tall, lanky redneck in his mid forties. He had a handful of ex-wives and three sets of kids. He talked with a thick Texas accent that made his words come out missing the L sound. He liked to talk shit and tell the same racist jokes over and over to everyone he met. Basically, Donnie was an ass.

         Derrick was an eighteen year old pretty boy. He claimed that all of his time outside of work was spent having sex with hot chicks. This was almost believable given the amount of work effort he gave at the job. Nine out of ten times you could find him sleeping somewhere or just shooting the shit with Donnie. Robert would later recognize him from one of the photographs in Mike Austin's office. The only reason he had survived more than a day on this job was the fact that his grand daddy was part owner of Prodigy and Derrick had no problem reminding people of this. Most people took this as a threat. Donnie however saw this as an occupational opportunity. He became friends and took the boy under his wing.

         Robert and Saverio finished stacking another fourteen light fixtures onto the four wheel dolly. They started their second trip to the fourth floor. Donnie and Derrick had conveniently disappeared a long ago leaving the two new guys to finish up. Robert was getting a little irritated that a job that seemed so simple could take so long. He felt they should have been done by now but, with so many obstacles it was nearly impossible. They had to clear debris out of their way, dodge the other tradesmen while they did their work, wait their turn for the sluggish elevator, and to top it all off the handle on the dolly had broken. Luckily Saverio was an handy kind of guy. He rigged up a new handle using scrap wire, pipes and duct tape. They reached the elevator at the front of the school and waited. Then they waited some more. At last the elevator door opened and they went up stairs.

         After what seemed like hours, the elevator door opened to the fourth floor. The two men rolled the lights out. The fourth floor was eerily quiet. Robert could faintly hear the sounds of construction from the floors below. The remodeling on this floor was mostly complete. It smelled of cut wood and fresh paint. Unlike the other floors, this one was free of most debris. The hall was much shorter than the other floors and only ran the length of the front of the building instead of all around it. The ceiling was lower, it was almost as if this floor had been an afterthought during it's construction process.

         It was hotter than the devil's balls up there. The grid that held the ceiling tiles and lights in place was already set. The two men leaned the light fixtures up against the wall every few feet below where slots had been made for them. Robert was racing to unload them, he just couldn't stand to move slow. He soon learned that in this line of work speed didn't always get the job done quicker.

         "Whoa! Whoa, man! Take it easy big guy." Saverio said cautiously. "Joo need to slow down. Pace yourself, man."

         "Slow down?" Robert said sounding short winded and slightly annoyed. "Why the hell would I want to do that? Don't you think we're taking too long as it is?"

         "No, we are fine." He said. "Relax. This isn't like working in the freezer, man. Joo don't slow it down the heat will tear you up my friend."

         Robert paused for a second and thought about Saverios warning. It wasn't until then that he realized his clothes were soaked straight through. There was even a trail of sweat marking their back trail. He noticed Saverio only had a small spot of sweat on his shirt. It wasn't like Saverio was slacking off, his body had just adapted to the heat and through experience(experience being the key word)knew his limitations, making it wise for Robert to heed his warnings.

         "Yeah, I think you've got a good point." Robert said changing his attitude, "You would know more about the heat than I do."

         Earlier Saverio had told him how he owned his own business installing lawn sprinkler systems. He also told Robert how he and his wife had moved to America twelve years ago from Mexico. They became legal citizens and had two children. A girl age five and a boy of eight. After that they decided two was enough. Growing up Saverio had been the fourth of eight siblings. He remember how hard it had been to survive. That was a life he did not wish on his children. The house he grew up in, even the school he attended, used open windows as air conditioning in a hot ass climate. So, for Saverio heat was just a way of life.

         They continued steadily moving their way down the hall. They finished the load and drank some water from the water fountain. It tasted gritty but it was cold. Robert and Saverio took turns drinking. When Saverio had drank his fill he leaned against the wall and slid to the floor.

         "Whoo". Savario sighed. "Sit down and take a little breather man. Joo look like chit."

         "Are you sure?" Robert asked him, "Won't someone get pissed if they catch us?"

         "Naa! Nobody's going to say anything we're making pretty good time. Besides I don't see anybody. Come on, it will do you good. Choo look like you're about to pass out."

         Robert looked around and reluctantly sat in a desk that was left in the hall. Saverio was right. After just thirty seconds of sitting down he could already feel his energy building back up. He imagined a health bar in the corner of the tv screen of a video game revitalizing. In the silence Robert looked around at the place. Down the hall about fifty feet or so, Robert noticed three steps leading halfway up the wall to a small door. The door was about three feet wide and four feet tall. Robert's curiosity overrode his fatigue.

         "Check it out," he said and walked over to the door, "The Kingdom of the Tremble High Gnomes!"

         Saverio got to his feet and followed, "What choo seeing, man?"

         "It's a little door, just your size too."

         "Back off man," Saverio said smiling.

         "I wonder where it goes?",Robert said and turned to Saverio, "Wanna check it out?"

         "Chure," he said and scanned the hall for any onlookers, "joo first man."

         Robert turned the door knob, it didn't move at first, so he tried a little harder. The second try did it. The door opened up and a damp, moldy smell crept out. Robert turned his head light on and slowly looked inside. He crawled through the door and got to his feet. The ceiling was only about five feet high, so Robert had to duck walk. Saverio came in behind him, he could almost stand up straight. They both looked around the room. It was more like an attic. The floor was extremely rotted and black, as if it had been tarred. There were scrap piles of old auditorium seats and desks everywhere. Giant mountains of ancient insulation or the biggest dust bunnies he had ever seen lined the corners. The place carried an ominous feeling like the weight of a dead man.

         Something caught his eye in one of the dust bunnies from hell. It was a skeleton of some kind. Robert thought for a second it looked human. It was the size of a baby, but as he got a little closer he noticed it had a tail and he felt a great relief. He got even closer and crouched down low so that he could get a better look at it. Before he could get a good view he felt a thump on his back!

         "HOLY FECES!" Robert screamed.

          There was something on his back and it was alive! The thing climbed from his back up to his neck. It knocked his hard hat off . Then it grabbed his hair and dug its claws into his neck. It felt like it was vibrating. Suddenly, Saverio was right behind him. His leg came up and kicked the creature off, sending it flying into the darkness. Robert turned and fell as his foot broke through the rotted floor. He could hear the little beast scuttling in the shadows. It was coming back! He pulled his leg and it wouldn't budge. He pulled harder the second time and slipped free. He stole a glance back and he could see its eyes reflecting his head light.

         "COME ON MAN!" Saverio called from the door. "GET THE HELL OUT OF THERE!"

         Robert scrambled to his feet and smashed his head on a concrete beam. "Damn it!" Robert bellowed rubbing the top of his head. He quickly picked up his hard hat and put it back on. Then he ran for the door. Saverio jumped out right before Robert dove for the opening. He put his sweaty hands out to break his fall but they slipped out from under him. His face hit the tiled floor with a wet smack. Saverio slammed the door, closing the thing off from them.

         "HA-HA-HA-HA-HA!" came Derricks high pitched taunting laugh from down the hall.

"What are you mother fuckers doin'?" Donnie inquired. "Why are you two fucking around in there?"

         "Yeah! What the FUCK?" Derrick echoed behind Donnie. "Where are all the lights?"

         Robert slowly rose to his feet, rubbing the left side of his face.

         "Sorry. My fault." Robert said. "I just saw this weird little door and wanted to check it out. Saverio-"

         "I don't give a rat's asshoe whose idea it was." Donnie interrupted. "Look, here's the new plan. Me and Derrick are going to start setting these lights into the grid while you two finish hauling the rest of them up here. If we can get them all up there by the end of the day, maybe I won't have to tell anyone about you two jerking off in there. Besides, I don't really want to get anyone in trouble. I may be an asshoe, but I'm not a complete asshoe. I'm just a half asshoe." He finished with a big toothy grin.

3

         Robert and Saverio rode the elevator down in silence and made their way to the trailer containing the lights. They loaded up the dolly and headed back up stairs.

         "Hey man," Robert broke the silence. "Thanks for getting that thing off of me up there. What the hell was it anyway, a rat?"

         "Don't worry about it man," Saverio said. "I didn't get a very good look at it, but I'm pretty sure it was a rat. An ugly one, and big!"

         Robert was pulling the dolly and Saverio was behind him guiding it. Saverio noticed something on Robert's collar. "Hold up a second." Saverio said and picked up a small piece of cardboard. "Hold still. You have something on your chirt man."

         Saverio used the cardboard to scrape the white, mucous like substance off of his shirt and handed it to Robert. Robert turned his light on to get a better look at it in the dark hall.

         "What the hell?" Robert thought out loud. "Do you think it came from that rat?"

         "Don't know, man. Looks like he blew his nose on you." Saverio said and then started laughing. "Or maybe he blew something else on you. He really did seem to like you, man!"

         "Aw, man!" Robert laughed. "That's not right, man."

         Robert looked at the stuff on the cardboard a second longer then dropped it on the floor. He picked up the handle to the dolly and began pulling again. They made several more trips. Donnie and Derrick managed to disappear again leaving him and Saverio to finish setting the lights in. They occasionally stopped by to put up one or two. Finally they finished for the day, signed out and went home.

4

         The drive home had been a nightmare. It had been five-thirty and everyone in the metroplex was on their way home. Traffic was bumper to bumper. Robert had to ride the brakes most of the way home which was extremely difficult with an excruciating charlie horse. Every muscle in his body was throbbing with pain. He was pretty sure he must have used every one of them that day.

         "Eeww! Nasty!" Lisa said looking down at Robert's naked body. "It did what on you?"

         "I don't know for sure if that's what it was or not. I'm really hoping it wasn't." Robert said. "Besides, I've never heard of a rat doing that. Have you? You should look that up."

         "I'm not sure I want to see what comes up when I Google Rat on human sex." Lisa said while trying to tame her laughter.

         "Maybe some guy on the roof accidentally honked a loogie on me or something." Robert said hopefully. "I'm just glad I didn't drop a load in my pants."

         "So, other than the overly friendly rodents how was it?" Lisa inquired.

         "I'm not sure yet, too early to tell." Robert said as he soaked in the bath. "But it was a hell of a lot more interesting than stocking groceries."

         "So, this Saverio guy did a ninja kick on this thing?" Lisa asked.

         "Yeah. He said he'd been taking karate for like ten years. Crazy, huh?"

         "That's one hell of a first day." Lisa laughed. "Horney rats and Mexican ninjas. Sounds a bit like a b-movie to me. Well, I'm going to finish dinner for hard working man."

         "Okay. I'll be there in a few minutes to help with the girls." Robert said.

         "Thanks. I'll see you in a few."

         Lisa stepped out of the bathroom and left Robert to think about his day. He played the scene in the attic over and over again in his head. He couldn't get rid of the image of the skeleton. He could swear the skull looked human. Maybe it was a pet monkey from a science class experiment or something like that he hoped. The idea of it being human was going to drive him insane. It couldn't have been human, could it have?