Part 29 (1/2)
”Up until a few days ago, n.o.body around the pool hall had seen you for months,” Scamz said.
”My job was keeping me busy.”
”Thought One Time might've shackled you down and had you on the gray goose heading out to Chino.”
”I don't do prisons.” One Time was a nickname for the police. I yawned. ”Like I said, I was working.”
”Was?”
”Got laid off. Everything came to a screeching halt when the commercial side of the company stopped producing and the aeros.p.a.ce side picked up. Been out looking for another j-o-b.”
Sounded like he took a draw from his cigarette, then blew the smoke out before he spoke again. ”Why do you keep wasting your talents on a nine-to-five?”
Makes me content, that's all that matters. Don't need to be rich to be happy.”
”What's the word, any luck?”
I told him I had called my old gig to check my status. Over twenty technicians with more time than I had were waiting to get called back. No one had gotten called back in six months and a few thousand more were getting kicked to the curb. The unemployment office told me to check back in a week or two, which was the same robotic line they ran on the twenty people in front of me.
I'd been hitting a lot of career fairs. Hit one down at the Bonaventure and put in apps with everybody from Aeros.p.a.ce Corporation to Sears. Never seen that many borderline-bankrupt people coming in from all over California and Nevada and Seattle looking for a job. After that I'd flown up to Oakland, hit the Alameda County Conference and Training Center, but five thousand out-of-work people beat me there. Most were in a line that circled the block by sunrise.
I told Scamz, ”North or south, ain't n.o.body hiring.”
”There's a synchronous world recession, especially in the high-tech world.”
”Translate.”
”No jobs out there. Jobs were already scarce, and those terrorists exacerbated the situation.”
I said, ”I got an interview next week.”
”Another widget factory?”
”Labor gig. Slinging boxes on a truck from dusk to dawn.”
”You're overqualified for that kind of work.”
”A man with no job ain't overqualified for any kinda work.”
”Spoken like a true member of the unemployed.”
”You got jokes.”
”Seems like a lot of people have been humbled.”
I cleared my throat. ”They're offering twelve an hour, but I know they have a stack of apps thicker than your little black book.”
He laughed at that. ”What're your ends looking like until that comes through?”
”They ain't looking. Almost as blind as Helen Keller.”
”Your economic recession is in full effect.”
”Yep. Seems like the world is f.u.c.ked up.”
We said a few words about the war that was going on, on how it had done a number on people both emotionally and financially.
Scamz said, ” 'Ours is essentially a tragic age, so we refuse to take it tragically.' ”
”Shakespeare?”
”D. H. Lawrence. The opening lines of Lady Chatterley's Lover.”
I yawned. ”A regular Nostradamus.”
”Come see me today. I got a few things lined up.”
”Can't. I'm a legit man.”
Scamz asked, ”You heard from Jackson?”
I met Jackson a few years back through Scamz. They were the best of friends when I came along. But Jackson had been off the grift for almost two years. A good woman and a steady job had him on the straight and narrow.
I said, ”Yeah. I've been hanging with him almost every day.”
”What you two got going on?”
”We've been teaming up and looking for jobs together.”
”So, he's getting back on the hustle?”
I debated telling Jackson's business but Scamz wasn't the type to spread the word about someone else's misfortunes. And nine times out of ten, he already knew what was going on.
I said, ”His ex is suing him for back child support.”
”Sabrina slapped Jackson with a lawsuit?”
”Yep. She filed papers and claimed Jackson never gave her a dime.”
”I don't believe that. He cared about his kids if nothing else.”
”He showed me the papers from the district attorney.”
We said a few more things about that.
In the end Scamz told me, ”Be careful where you stick your d.i.c.k.”
I laughed at those sage words. He laughed too. They were laughs of disbelief.
We chitchatted about a few other people from our little clandestine world. A few were on lockdown, a few more were about to get out. A couple had died along the way.