Goodbye for Now

I am the new Cory.

            With everyone else gone, I got promoted pretty fast.  Max has lime disease so he’s not even helping out for the holidays, I haven’t seen Miles in several weeks, and I (thankfully) have no clue where Luke Johnson is. 

            I’ve been here every weekend since I got back from visiting my baby brother in Maryland mid-October.  I decided to view Burt’s shop as a stepping stone—I’m not sure where I’ll be stepping to—but it’s given me renewed motivation to hunker down and devote my weekends to meat cutting.  Tommy even mentioned talking to Grace about getting me some night hours once the Thanksgiving rush begins.  I will be The Night Butcher!  I love it.  And, it doesn’t hurt that they really and truly need my help right now. 

I stand across from Tommy at the large white cutting board in the front of the store, cleaning and sharpening the two knives that I will use all day:  one small boning knife with a slight curvature, and one large evil-looking scimitar with a twelve-inch blade and a wicked swerve to it. 

            Nicole rings customers out, and charms them with conversation and free samples. 

            “At least you’re quiet,” Tommy mutters under his breath.

            Nicole is going through a divorce right now.

            Tommy keeps calling Nicole a lesbian. 

            He also keeps taking my knives.  He has eight knives on his side of the board—eight.  Yet every time I turn around, one of mine is gone.  So I get a new one, clean and sharpen it, and then he takes that one.  So I take back the first one I had.  This continues ad infinitum.             

Into the Mountains, Part III

This place smells of pot and incense.

There are no doors on the bedrooms, only curtains. 

There are footlockers underneath the beds . . . with no locks on them. 

This is one of the handful of hostels that exist in America.  They are advertised to possess a microbrewery and rooftop garden.  When we arrive we find a large banner stating, “Microbrewery Coming Soon!”  The sign is from 2012. 

 

 

We are the only guests tonight, so we have the run of the . . . house?  Naturally, the first thing we do . . . is jump in the shower.  Because even though we stayed in that fancy resort last night, we were both too tired to bother with hygiene.  Scrubbing down in that narrow wooden stall is the greatest feeling in the world right now.

Before heading out, we wander around the rest of the house.  There’s a great back deck with a hammock, but I want to check out this garden on the roof. 

Well, there’s nothing growing up here, but the view is spectacular.