It was not my intention to embark upon any nostalgic remembrances. I just wanted to relax and listen and absorb the music. But, since the material does deal with the time before, during and after the period I spent at Stony Brook University - and since the lyrics are very personal - I suppose it is natural that my mind would take me back through the decades (even though that was not my intention).
It was the song "Great Expectations" that triggered the flood of memories. The song details a special night - New Years Eve 1973. Everything went wrong. The party we attended was horrible. We were almost killed. And we bonded. For life. All of us are still friends. Still in close contact. (I hadn't really had that in my life until then.)
Christmas week. 1973. I was working two jobs during the school vacation, trying to save enough to spend my senior year at college away from home. In the evening I worked at a store called Korvettes. And during the day I worked at a department store called Whites. In the hardware department. My direct supervisor was a friend of The Avenger of Edenn. I barely knew him at the time. We called him The Big Guy. It's not easy working for a friend but The Big Guy was a very kind, easy-going individual. We'd go out to a local bar after work, I'd buy him a beer (or two). We got along well.
I shouldn't have been working in the hardware department. A screw - a hammer, That was the extent of my knowledge of hardware. If a customer had a question about the equipment - or was looking for some help with a specific problem - I sent him over to The Big Guy.
The Big Guy's boss, Joe Ponesca, was not an easy-going guy. In fact, he was a middle-aged, nasty, argumentative, demanding son-of-a bitch. He was the floor supervisor who probably needed to be a nasty, argumentative, demanding son-of-a-bitch in order to control a workforce made up of a hundred undisciplined teenagers and young adults. He hated The Big Guy. Ponesca was an obese, balding, height-challenged individual. The Big Guy was tall, good-looking, thin. And young. With a head-of-hair a professional actor might envy. Ponesca insulted and demeaned The Big Guy at every opportunity. For some reason he was kind to me and very supportive. He never yelled at me when I had trouble helping a customer. He yelled at The Big Guy instead. "Why couldn't your employee help that customer find the god-damned 1-3/4-2inch Gate Anchor Kit?"
It wasn't easy working eight hours a day when you knew nothing about the products you were selling. The Big Guy would watch me aimlessly wander the floor in the hardware department, avoiding customers, trying to keep a low profile. "Steve, you need to keep busy" he would tell me. He would ask me to neatly arrange hundreds of tiny boxes of nails. Once I'd finished he would knock them off the shelves. And ask me to put them back on the shelves. In nice neat rows of course.
The morning of December 31 I arrived at work for my shift at 9am. I would not have to work at Korvettes that evening. Instead the Avenger and myself had been invited to a party in Brooklyn. About fifty miles west of my parent's home in Suffolk County. Drive all the way to Brooklyn for a party? We knew this guy Mike from Stony Brook. He'd invited us to the party. Mike said the magic word. "Girls" he said. "Girls. There will be dozens of pretty girls. Not as many guys. And the girls will be very friendly." The Avenger and I asked The Big Guy and a few other friends to come with us. So first there would be eight hours of work during the day. Then a long drive. And - finally - a great New Years Party that evening. Possibly a night to remember! But - in the meantime - it would be a long day...
There were few customers. Christmas was over. I walked over to a shelf and knocked over a row of screws - instead of nails - just for something different to do. I picked them up, arranged the little boxes perfectly - and then knocked them down again. Was I going to have to do that all day long in order to keep busy? Then The Big Guy came by and directed me back to the boxes of nails. He had new price tags which had to be placed over the old prices - a particular brand of nails had increased in price from 87 cents to 89 cents. (This was before bar codes, before electronic scanning.) I stood there and carefully placed the new price stickers over the old price stickers on at least two hundred little boxes. I kept thinking about the party. I was really looking forward to it. A wild party! With women. And looking forward to partying on New Years Eve with friends (none of which I really knew very well). I had never been to a New Years Eve party.
I went over to The Big Guy and told him I had changed all of the prices. He handed me more stickers. "Steve" he said. "You know the boxes that changed in price from 87 cents to 89 cents? Well, the nails have now gone up another two cents. You need to change the prices again!" I stared at him. Then I walked back to the employee locker room. I came out, told The Big Guy I had gotten sick - and promptly for the day. I could hear Ponesca screaming at The Big Guy as I exited the building.
I drove over the Avenger's parents house, relaxed while he went to do some errands for his mother. Two hours later there was a knock on the door. Standing outside was the Big Guy with a major league grin on his face. "I told Ponesca I'd gotten sick" he told me. "Last I saw of Ponesca, he had to cover for our absence himself - he was trying to help a customer fit a square peg into a round hole!"
The Big Guy and myself waited for the Avenger to return home. Nails? Screws? There was a party to go to that evening.
We couldn't wait. We were twenty. It was going to be a special evening. Wasn't it?
"Great expectations" indeed.
To be continued.
Stay warm, everyone, be safe!
Stevenn
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