Have you ever been poor? I have been poor poor. Yes, I could have called up Mom and Dad and
they would have helped out but then I would have had to listen to Dad and the lecture and my sister and I had way, way to much pride for that.
Way back in 1982 my sister Patty (PAKART) and I drove to AZ. We both worked in fish canneries in AK and thought that working in the broccoli fields in Yuma AZ sounded like a good ideal.
We packed up my car and headed out. That car broke down in Circle MT and I junked that car and bought a boat. Also called a Chevy Impala. That ate up a lot of my cash that we were going to live on.
By the time we got to Yuma, rented the dumpy trailer, got hooked up with utilities we didn't have much left over. And the jobs fell though. We were not going to be working in the fields.
We didn't have money to put gas in the car but we did have a bike. So each day one of us would take the bike and ride into Yuma and look for a job and follow up on jobs.
Our money pile got smaller and smaller. I sold my Sony Walkman for 5 bucks and with that I bought a dozen eggs, loaf of bread, a bunch of ramen noddle soup ( which we would water down! ) and a small jar of mayo. That was it for money. We had no more and no jobs.
On Patty's day of riding the bike I would walk into town and go to the library and get books and stuff. Well, they were going to have a some kind of " appreciation day " with FOOD in a few days. I planned on being there.
The day came and there I was. This was kind of a hoity toity thing. I remember that they were all dressed up and there was art around. I was there in jeans and t-shirt, hot and hungry as I had just walked about 4 miles to get there.
They had fancy meat trays, cheese trays, bread trays and dessert trays. Also wine and other soft drinks. I kept a low profile and got a plate and loaded up and went to a quite corner and ate. Went back for seconds and when all done I snuck out. It was nice to be full, and on good food. Not watered down soup!
When I got home Patty was also home from her day of looking for a job and found one! She was going to start the next day as a waitress at the J.C. Penny Coffee shop. Our money problems were getting solved.
1 year ago
Wow, 1982? That was the year I met the Bike Man in college and started biking seriously. Thanks for sharing your Sunday confession, very interesting.
ReplyDeleteThat's a great story, Kris. Thanks for sharing. At least you had Patty to share this with. It never seems as bad when there are two of you.
ReplyDeleteThat was really scrounging. Yay for the library and free food.
ReplyDeleteThose were the good old days! We didn't have food for my dog either, so I went to a butcher shop every day and asked for scraps which I brought home and boiled up for the dog. What Kris forgot to tell you is that we would crack an egg in the top ramen and have fancy "egg drop soup". Once I started working at the coffee shop, I ate a free lunch there every day.
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