I shaved, the first time in weeks, put on a clean sweater and khakis, made myself presentable. Even slicked back my hair. Yeah, Dara, I had hair then. Not that I wanted a job, I just wanted a tour of the cannery.
First thing you smelled walking towards the docks was chum and rotting fish. It really twisted your nose. Half of working down that way is to not throw up, or to throw up in the pet food if you do. I found the cannery just by how bad it stank. Walked up to the foreman, asked him for a job. We walked the floor, him pointing out everything going on down there.
Zeke was throwing fish into different holes every which way, looking like a natural. Didn't look the same as the polaroid. He had a green hair net, thick rubber apron, no more mustache. Not happy, not sad, just moving fish.
The whole floor was doing honest work, and they didn't even have time to talk if it wasn't fish related. Wasn't any way Zeke could be cheating on his wife, not during the day. If you were here and over 16, you needed the job. You weren't gonna risk losing it.
Soon as we got up to the foreman's office, I started acting like a slob, sniffing the air, hiccuping, pretending I didn't know what they did in a cannery, like I was too good for it. Foreman warned me that up here was as good as it got, and down on the floor, it'd be like swimming in the Dead Sea. I asked him how long breaks were, and he laughed in my face. Lunch was 30 minutes, and 2 bathroom breaks, 10 minutes each. Guy shook his head, looked at me kinda sad. He told me to go look around, and when I was ready to do an honest day's work, I should come back.
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