Characters #3 & 4

The characters for Day 3 and Day 4 have been combined into one entry. I was doing each side of the phone call separately, but it just didn't work. So both of them are here at least in a format that is readable.

Ken Erd - Butcher's Assistant
Diane Gion - Law Clerk

buzzzzzz buzzzz buzzzzzzzz
“Come on… come on… I know you’re home…” He said.
buzzzz buzzzz buzzzzzzz
“I know you can hear that cutesy ringer of yours… Put the curler down and answer the phone you silly little—“
“Hello?” She said.
“Hey, Di. How’s it going?”
“Not bad.”
“I just got in,” he said.
“Really? I’ve been home for hours.”
“Go ahead. Rub it in.”
“I will,” she said. “I’ve eaten too.”
“Lovely.”
“Just leftovers.”
“Whose?”
“Mama’s.”
“Great,” he said. “Glad you’re not rubbing it in.”
“What? It’s just leftovers.”
“With how your Mother cooks? What is it? Four courses? Five?”
“Just some pasta.”
“Uh-huh,” he said. “What kind?”
“Lasagna.”
“I had some lasagna the other day. Straight from the freezer. Rubbery cheese and a sauce that may once have been poured over meat. I’ll bet it was just as good.”
“Probably. This just has a little prosciutto, ricotta, herbed eggplant, and smoked mozzarella.”
“You know you’re making me drool, right?”
“But if I wasn’t it wouldn’t be teasing, would it?” she said.
“You’ve got ambrosia and I have three day old meatloaf I bought at the corner store.”
“You don’t have to live like that, you know.”
“It isn’t exactly living, but it is all I can afford.”
“So change jobs.”
“It isn’t that easy,” he said.
“Actually, it is. All you need to do is make a decision and then follow through with it.”
“Yeah, yeah.”
“I mean it. Look, you’re not a stupid guy.”
“Gee thanks. You’re rousing confidence is inspiring to me. I must clear the line and await my call from the Nobel Prize people.”
“Don’t be that way, Ken,” she said. “I mean it. You are not stupid. So it is just a matter of putting your mind to things and improving your situation. You’ve got some education under your belt. Go apply for something. Go study more. Just do what you need to do.”
“I don’t have education.”
“You went to college, didn’t you?”
“Yeah.”
“What did you do? Just party all the time and never take classes?”
“I took theatre design and office management. This is not really education.”
“But it IS something to build on. You can take other courses. You could learn a trade.”
“Don’t really see myself as a grease monkey.”
“A trade is a hell of a lot more than just a mechanic position. There are all sorts of trades from therapy to esthetics to business. You can pick anything that appeals to you.”
“Just reach out and grab that brass ring. And here I thought you needed talent.”
“Half of talent is a matter of applying yourself. Pick something that interests you, study it, apply yourself, and you’ll go a lot further than just flipping burgers.”
“I don’t flip burgers.”
“Flip ‘em, press ‘em, or grind ‘em, it’s all about the same.”
“It takes a little more to make them than cook them.”
“Don’t take offense,” she said.
“I may not have a lot of education, but I did have to learn those formulas and all the rest of the stuff Henries wants from us.”
“See? You apply yourself.”
“I need the money.”
“Motivation.”
“Don’t paint it pretty. It isn’t. It’s just a job.”
“Then why work so hard at it?”
“Because you’re supposed to do your job well if you’re going to bother at all,” he said.
“That is called applying yourself.”
“It’s just working. Look, take today. I was late home because we had a lot to do. Not because I was ‘applying’ myself or anything like that.”
“You could have left at the end of your shift.”
“No, I couldn’t.”
“Why not?”
“Because today was a mess.”
“How?”
“I opened today. It was a disaster. I don’t know what happened last night but no one did anything. Well, no. That’s not fair. They did the basics, but once you passed the counter and got into the back things weren’t pretty. They didn’t wash off any of the equipment, the grinder was still clogged with crap, and the dishes were just rinsed, not washed. Henries wasn’t even in until 9. What was I supposed to do? Tell the first hour of customers that I couldn’t help them? Wait until I could point fingers at someone? No. I had to clean up. And it put me way behind and pissed Henries off and there I was. By the time I got everything I was supposed to get done done, it was an hour over.”
“At least you got overtime.”
“We don’t get overtime for not getting our stuff done.”
“That isn’t fair.”
“What’s fair about work? It isn’t playtime. We’re there to work.”
“Did you tell him what happened?” she said.
“Why? Paul and I have never gotten along. It would just look like me trying to piss on his cornflakes.”
“You’re just giving into the worker’s mentality.”
“What are you now, a Communist?” he said.
“Ha ha. I’m just saying that there are laws to protect against employers against taking advantage of their employees. Something tells me that you don’t know them very well.”
“This isn’t a good time to be out of work.”
“There’s a good time?”
“You know what I mean. If I make waves I could end up on the street.”
“He can’t fire you for defending your rights under the law.”
“No, but I’m sure he could figure out some reason to do it. If bosses want to, they can easily make employees go away. It doesn’t take much. And then what would I do?”
“I’ve told you before my company is almost always looking for people.”
“Yeah, running memos and delivering sandwiches,” he said.
“Isn’t that better than being unemployed?
“Debatable.”
“I don’t want to fight with you,” she said. “Did you at least get my message?”
“Yeah. What time were you thinking? I haven’t showered or anything. I smell like chipped beef.”
“I don’t know. Two hours? It doesn’t start until 10.”
“That should work for me.”
“Good,” she said.
“Is Janice coming?”
“Hmmm, I think so. Why?”
“Because I’m curious, that’s why. Do I need a reason? I don’t care if she comes or not. Just another person.”
“Like last time? You spent the whole night talking to her.”
“I did not! It’s not my fault that no one else wanted to talk with her. I just happened to head out for some air,” he said.
“For four hours?”
“It was NOT four hours. Go to hell. Why so pushy?
“Why so pissy about it? You’re like a little boy in grade school.”
“I’m not pissy. It was just a bad day is all. I’m tired.
“You know that you don’t have to come. It’s just a movie.”
“I’m in no mood to stay at home and stare at the peeling paint. It might get my mind off work.”
“Do you work tomorrow?”
“Yeah. I open again.”
“Then it is hardly likely that you’ll forget about work. Not enough to really relax. Why not skip it and go to bed early,” she said.
“You trying to get me out of the way?”
“No, I don’t like Janice.”
“I told you Janice is nothing to me.”
“Should I let her know that? Because I’m pretty sure I remember her asking if you’ll be there.”
“She did?”
“What do you care?”
“Oh, go spit.”
“Ha! I knew it!”
“You know nothing. Just keep things to yourself,” he said. “I have enough problems.”
“Oh I’ll stay out of it, all right. The way you work you’ll sink yourself before long anyway.”
“What makes you say that?”
“Long experience with you. I’ve known you since Grade Two.”
“Then you should know that I have a lot of hidden qualities.”
“Don’t hide them too well.”
“Do I ever?”
“Yes.”
“Name one time.”
“Evelyn Smythe, Margaret Schultz, Agatha Jones—“
“I said one time,” he said.”
“What about that girl with the boobs?”
“What??”
“You know. That party at Mark’s. She was flashing them all over the place.”
“She’d had a lot to drink.”
“So had I, but the girl’s stayed in the closet.”
“What’s your point?”
“She was flashing everyone, but she was particularly taken with you,” she said. “Sat next to you every chance she got. Shared glasses with you. Sat on your lap a couple of times too.”
“So what?”
“So I remember what you said happened.”
“Great.”
“As I recall, at the end of the night you two were alone and she asked you to rub her back. There you were. Rubbing the shoulders and back of a girl who had spent hours showing you just how interested she was in you… What was it she asked you?”
“What was on my mind.”
“Exactly. Something any red-blooded male would have many answers to. But what was YOUR response? Something along the lines of ‘nothing’.”
“My mind went blank.”
“There is a lot you could have done, not just said.”
“I froze up.”
“You do that. And what happened? You finished the massage, you both went to bed separately, and you lost out on a chance.”
“She lived pretty far away.”
“And maybe she would have gotten closer. You don’t know that it wouldn’t have turned into something.”
“And you don’t know that it wouldn’t have been just another one-night stand.”
“That isn’t the point. The point is that you took yourself right out of the running. Anything might have happened, but you made sure that nothing did. So don’t worry about me sticking an oar in with Janice. Worry more about what you might do or say if she actually shows an interest in you.”
“I’ll be fine.”
“You always say that,” she said.
“One of these days I’ll have to be right,” he said.
“Fine. We’ll see if tonight is one of those nights. Get cleaned up, fed, and I’ll see you in a bit.”
“Okay. Bye.”
“Bye."