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Show 62 Going Down-down Red didn't take getting layed-off bad at first. At first he took it pretty good. He thought he'd take himself a little vacation. Collect unemployment. Play golf. His taxes were paying for Eisenhot., to play golf, now they could pay for Red to play golf. On his off days he bowled, except for Fridays when he had to go downtown to stand in line for his unempoyment check, then he came back bitching about standing in line and determined to find work. But there wasn't any work. Red had done pretty good selling porcelain enamel. Haxxaxxx When he took us for Sunday rides he could point out a building xxxxxxx or gas station every mile where he\J sold the shiny enamel front. "See that," Red said. "I sold that. Guy wanted to put neon up there. I said to him, 'How long you think neon's going to last? Porcelain enamel is cheap. It's shiny, easy to clean. You don't got to pay a fortune to m keep it lit.' Now he's happy. Look how nice that looks. Don't that look nice?" It sure did. I loved to look at those gas stations, sqO$f£ and white and shining like new refrigerators. Red got made sales manager. Then his boss died. Red didn't get along with the boss's son. "It's all stinkin poli tics," said Red. "I'm the best god-damn salesman they ever had." But even I noticed that the xxx new gas stations weren't xxi using porcelain enamel anymore, and after a few months Eriez Enamel folded. So Red was never going back. He went back to the Forge, but the forge was laying off, not hiring. Soon Red wasn't golfing or bowling on Wednesdays either because that was the day he had to go down to the Welfare Office for his food dole. Then his unemployment ran out and he didn't g golf or bowl at all. He walked around with his bowling ball or sat next to the TV or sat on the porch. He walked around the house looking for dust. He bitched at Helen, he bitched at me, he bitched at Neda who had Atffr begun a career of crime in order to maintain her candy fix. |
