This Weeks Very Short Story: Chapter 20

One of my summer jobs during college was working in Pharmacy in Detroit. It only lasted only a short time. The owner was a family friend. He continued to work even after being robbed a number of times and he was shot when supposedly someone followed him back to Oak Park. Working at the counter in the Pharmacy, you got to know the local people and their preference of cigarettes and snuff amongst other things. One day I got a call and they told me not to come in, another robbery, one too many. They were going to close down the Pharmacy. It was the end of an era of local individual owned pharmacies. 

One summer while in college, I worked at Sinai Hospital in Detroit purging old x-rays. They did this to get money from the recovered silver. It was a night job from 11p.m. to 6 a.m. I worked with a group of people that all got hired at the same time. Once we got the swing of things and completed what was expected of us each day, we would slip off for a little sleeping time. I would sleep on the x-ray table. The x-ray tech would wake me before everyone showed up for work in the morning. 

Years ago, I was doing some per diem work in Torrance, CA. It was about 50 miles from my home. I worked there during a rainy season. Yes, it did rain in California. At that time I was driving a Volkswagen Jetta. If I left there before 3 p.m., I had a chance to get home quickly. This did not happen often. Leaving after 3 p.m., I would get on the 405 freeway and drive for a short while and then come to an almost dead stop. Sitting there in traffic, in the rain with the wiper blades going back and forth gave me claustrophobia such that one time I had to get off the road. I then got out of the car and just stood in the rain. That night I told my wife that I need to drive the van. 

For years when I made my videos or writings, I have signed them…. A RAMS PRODUCTION. Robert, Arlene, Matthew, Seth. Now that the RAMS football team has moved back to Los Angeles, I can’t wait to get that cease and desist letter. Like they are going to notice. 

We went to see my parents at Riverside National Cemetery for the first time about a month ago. They had put up the headstone. It reminded me of a new subdivision being built and instead of houses it was headstones. Blocks and blocks of them, with no grass. They should have the lawn's put in by the time we visit next.