Friends of The River Revisited

Things had changed at Friends of The River. New building for one, but of greater concern to my life, new boss. The old phone bank director had been fired for sexual harassment. I should have seen that coming but it surprised me none the less. She was so into being progressive, she had once berated me for looking at a gorgeous woman at some hip gay coffee shop.
"What the hell Stacy, you're eyes are bigger than mine."
"I don't objectify woman's bodies. If I look at a woman I'm appreciating her energy."
I couldn't resist. "Holy shit Stacy, you gotta check out the energy on this one!"

This was typical, her sense of correctness was only aimed at others. She would say suggestive things to the women we worked with and she'd bitch about not getting any girl action. Like we wanted to know how well she was doing in the bedroom.

Nicole, who I adored, was now the director and a delight to work for. I did as well as ever on the phones and was bringing in plenty of bonuses. Troy had been working there since the old days and was still around as Nicoles assistant. He was a good guy and honest and sincere somewhat hippie-ish type who was more into radical politics than radical political fashion.

New to the staff was Billy. Billy had long dread locks and was a wildman. Billy liked to drink and I took to joining him. He hung out with a crew that I came to know as the Alcoholic Boys Club. Of all the adventure's I'd had I'd never really been a part of a clique of rowdy guys. The animation festival boys were as close as I'd come and they sort of had to hang out with me. Not that I didn't feel a sincere friendship, but I was always a bit of an odd man out. Here, I was just one of the drunkards, a member of a club made up entirely of odd men out. So we drank and we talked shit, and we harassed each other. We talked about books and jail and girls and sometimes a girl or two would even hang out with us but never for long. Bryna was still in Yosemite so she would not yet be the exception.

I was working one night and I needed some white out. I shouted to Nicole to toss me a bottle.

"Have you already huffed away the last bottle I gave you?" she asked.
"Nope. But two nostrils calls for two bottles."
"Ah, double fisting it. I like your style." and with that a bottle came flying. It didn't quite reach the desk I was working at and as I went to pick it up I noticed one of the day crew still there, working late. I said hello and the mousey little person managed a squeakey high and an uptight little wave or maybe it was a salute. I went back to my work.

Then next day the supply cabinet where the white out and other fine inhalents were kept had a lock on it and instructions to ask the day crew if we needed any supplies. It seems the Alcoholic Boys Club was not the only group I'd joined with a bad reputation. We all had a good laugh about the mousey office employee's accidental adventure in our den of sin.

I rediscovered the joy of calling in sick. I called on a night when Nicole had left the phone bank in Troy's capable hands. I really needed to come up with a good one as I'd already used the flu the week before and a death in the family a week before that. What came out of my mouth shocked even me.

"Uh, hey Troy, I can't come in tonight. I was assaulted."
"What! Keith are you okay."
"Oh yeah dude I'm fine, just a bit shaken up. I was walking home from Billy's with my friend Dave after having a bit to drink and I passed this homeless looking guy. He asked me for money and I gave him a buck and then he punched me in the head."
"Oh my god. Did you call the police?"
"No. Dave chased him off and I just want to put it behind me."
"Okay. Do you need a couple of days off?"
"No, it's okay. Thanks. I just want to take it easy today. I'll see how I feel tomorrow."

As I hung up I was glad I said punched in the head and not punched in the face. I didn't want to have to fake a bruise. I enjoyed my night and I was back at work the next day. I just wanted to work I told everyone. I didn't really want to talk about it. I was fine.

Towards the end of my shift I heard talking from somewhere else in the office and it started to get excited. Dave all of a sudden came rushing to my desk with Troy in tow.

"Somebody fucking hit you? Who hit you?" Dave had been in the neighborhood and was stopping by to see if I'd hit the bars with him.

"Weren't you with him?" Troy asked. Oh shit.

"No it was Dave Felding that was with me."

"I thought he was in Portugal."

"He's back."

"Someone fucking hit you?"

"Yeah someone hit me."

"Who is Dave Felding."

"Look, you guys are giving me a headache okay. Calm down. I'm done, I'm gonna split. Come on Dave let's go."

Troy was such a sweet guy. I'm sure he knew I was full of shit but he was doing his best to give me the benefit of the douby. I rewarded him by not calling in sick anymore.

We were working on stopping a damn in Klammath, again, and getting protections for a river in the Grand Canyon, but the Auburn Damn was the hot issue locally. Damn projects never really die, they just take a little rest now and then. We weren't working on Auburn at the moment, but we were ready. The problem is we were kind of implying that we were working on Auburn. I felt dishonest about it. It was one thing to lie to someone so you could take the night off, and not earn any money, but quite another to lie to people who were coughing up their hard earned cash. This combined with the fact that I was making enough at my other job and Bryna's impending home coming meant it was time to quit. Mostly though, I couldn't call in sick, so quitting was what was left. My other job was under the table so I'd be able to collect unemployment which would help.

Nicole asked me to fill out a form officially resigning. Under "Reason from termination of employment:" I wrote "I'm off to pursue the American Dream." And this brilliant move stopped me from collecting that unemployment.

>>> Next I work at Sub Q, where I again can't collect unemployment>>>>