Summer Job

My first official social security-number job was the Tuesday after Memorial Day weekend - high school out for summer vacation, between junior and senior years. I was suppose to work Saturday but pretended I thought we were holiday-off - showing-up for work Tuesday morning - and the boss - owner of a house-building construction firm - said I am fired.

Not my first summer job - I had two others but un-paying. The two summers before was paint my grand-father's summer house and the last summer was extend the sewage line on Fox Island, Song Lake.

I lied. I said "I didn't know!"! Mr. Miscellaneous changed his mind and told me to go out to his front yard, an un-horticultured dirt patch, and finish digging the septic tank hole which I did, finishing around nine thirty. Then he gave me the job of glazing some of his windows, a new house still under phases of construction. Window glazing I did not have an inkling - broke a glass - cut my finger and he had to take me to the doctor for three stitches - which took us almost to lunch.

For my grandfather two summers before, I had to build a scaffold to paint his house, of two by fours and planks which was no problem, but it was the moving of it that was the difficulty. In the pine trees, bushes, flowers and Blue Jay nests along the side of the house, where the walk led - from the back door which was the channel end of the house, across which was the bridge which led to the white stone gravel parking lot, to the front or lake side.

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