Sunday, November 20, 2022

15,779. HAPPENSTANCE LINDEN

HAPPENSTANCE LINDEN
'I've got your back,' the guy said.
Yes, and what a sonorous dump it 
was - Aldee's in Linden, where he
was taking people's carts so as to
retrieve the quarter for himself.
It's a poor-man's Linden gimmick
in these crummy joints as such:
The people put a quarter in the
slot to get a cart, and this guy, as
they are leaving, swarms them and
they let him help load their groceries
and he takes the cart away, and gets
their quarter back.
It seems they can do this like 70 times
a day, without huffing. So they do.
And they make their 18 bucks; a few
guys working the lot together with
no real disagreements  -  except that
it's actually a disagreeable task. They
keep no class, just a drudgery of the
moment. It's a low-level existence,
for both the shoppers and the takers,
but it keeps them all going, and the
liquor store's right next door (except a
quarter 'ain't worth nothing any more.'

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