MY Dream

My blogging group (GBE:2) asked for a post with a "Dream" theme recently, and my friend Carl, at the shipyard, will not read my blog unless his name is mentioned.

Let's see what I can do to fill both commissions shall we?

Carl is a hooker.  He used to be a stager, back when I was a stager, while now I am a fitter, and before my son Josh, now working in the shipyard as well, had become a stager.  Oh, by the way, a hooker is a guy assigned to work with one of the many cranes attaching the crane's hooks to whatever needs to be lifted on or off a ship.  He also directs the crane operator to place the load correctly and safely.  Why?  What did you think I meant?

Carl, John (a fitter foreman), Josh and I sit together near the end of a long table in the lunchroom.  Sort of. Josh and I sit across from each other on the narrow wooden benches and play chess (Our arrangement is that Josh wins and I lose.).  John, being a foreman, gets to sit at the end of my bench and lean against the wall with his feet up on the bench.  Carl is also somehow special, so he gets to lean back against the wall on his side and put his feet up by Josh.  The only real problem with this arrangement (besides the obvious unfair leaning privileges enjoyed by only 50% of our group) is that Carl and John are both "low talkers" (remember why Seinfeld had to wear the famous "puffy shirt" on TV?) and their already small voices both sit removed from our small hearing by the additional lengths of their outstretched legs!  From across the room an observer might wonder why Josh and I do a lot of nodding down the table and shrugging shoulders at each other.

Carl shared the history of this arrangement one day (I think.  He might have been talking about the plight of the Borr's during their famous war for all I know!).  He said that my boss, Jake, used to sit in his spot, but when Jake was promoted and moved on to eat at a "desk", Carl grabbed the coveted leanable seat.

Carl (Yes, I  am putting his name at the top of each paragraph in an effort to keep him reading.) is probably special for two reasons.  Not only because he gets to wear a fancy reflective green hooker vest and bright orange safety gloves, but also because he subsists on a very special diet.  Carl drinks a Mountain Dew and eats a bag of Cheetos at every break, every day (Hmmm. Maybe those aren't orange gloves on his hands after all!).

Carl and John may both be promoted and move to desk land some day.  I can see it all now:  I will take Carl's coveted spot, and lean back against the wall!  Josh will sit across from me in John's old place.  He may or may not lean back, and he may or may not put his sloppy feet up on the bench by some poor fitter, but when we play chess, I will win, Josh will lose!!

I say that if you're going to dream, dream big!






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