Road Crew Girls

When my father-figure Darryl was in town a coupla weeks ago, we took him to Pete's Big Salmon to hear me read a few poems and introduce him to our buddies. Jen Knox and I were talking with Darryl when I mentioned that I had worked for Darryl's construction company in high school. Oh really? asked Jen, curiosity piqued. Yep, says I.



See what happened is that I recommended a couple of my male friends to Darryl as summer help, but they turned out to be lazy and he was stuck needing more people on the crew. So my sister & I had to step up. We spent most of that summer from 6 to 6 in the Texas sun, driving the barricade truck, setting up and breaking down barricades and cone configurations, and directing traffic while the crew paved the streets in my hometown. That same summer I managed a sandwich shop on the main drag and also worked as the "perfume sample" girl at Dillard's in the local mall.*



Then Jen says, You know what? I did that too!



That's right. Two poets of roughly the same age, living in New York City after moving here from hickish small towns, both with husbands named Sean/Shawn, both exceedingly tall for ladies, me playing editor to her poet for Soft Skull--two gals who just plain like to hang out with each other--we both worked on road crews in our youth. Street-paving road crews.



Now, I'm guessing the chances of us having that much in common are mighty mighty slim, huh?



*Note: As you can see, I've always been somethig of a workaholic. Though back then, I made pretty good money. Now I just have a well-employed hubby!