Originally published 101123

“Hang the coffee can around your neck. Pick the berries into the can. Pour the can into the crate. Bring the crate to me when it’s full, and I’ll punch your card.”

Each hole was worth 25 cents. That could add up!

What did I know? I was a kid working in a distant relative’s blackberry field.

The string attached to the coffee can slowly gnawed a groove in the back of my sunburned neck while thorns left skittering reminders on my hands and arms.

A couple of summers later, I was knocking on doors and mowing lawns.

More money. Less time. No bleeding.

Hoeing weeds involved blisters, but I had a transistor radio. I could listen to music while I worked.

Loved the music, hated the blisters. I found other ways.

Then, a revelation. At the grocery store.

I introduced myself to the manager and told him that I’d like to work there.

“You have to be 16 to work here.”

“I’ll be 16 in less than two years.”

He smiled, “We can talk then.”

Periodically, I’d politely remind the manager of my interest. And my upcoming birthday.

“I know,” he’d come to say as I approached, “you turn 16 on May 5th.”

I started working at Freedom Food Center on 050571.

I memorized weekly ads, bought a used Camaro, and didn’t write down Arlene’s phone number on the spice aisle (018).

By late summer of ’73, I’d saved enough for a year at Cal Poly.

Or, as I’d discover the following spring, almost enough for a year.

Lots of other kids wanted my job.

Dave didn’t ask, but he felt right.

The manager agreed and hired Dave.

Dave married Helen (a checker at the store).

They bought a house and had kids.

Because I was good at standardized tests.

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Context: Working at Freedom Food left little time for homework. (An air-tight alibi!) I loved the job (and the summer with Arlene) so much that I seriously considered skipping college to start a new life. My mom caught wind of my plans and laid down the law. Like it or not, I was going to college.

Featured Image: The background was originally a student app + Photoshop experiment that I shared with the kids. One of ’em played with the idea and discovered a novel way to generate flowing highlights in Photoshop. Genius! I shared his process in another video. This image had been a placeholder for the last eighteen months because I liked its story. I like this iteration more.

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