Everything Burns
I finished cleanup and looked at theKiosk nook in theMall.
Spotless!!
well...
there was the Syrup splatters upon theBottles that I missed,
but, as my ShiftSupervisor told me once before (and several times after),
that such little mistakes in ClosingShift at theKiosk were forgivable ONLY IF
I had pretty much EVERYTHING else taken care of,
I shrugged my tired shoulders,
shouldered my nylonJacket w/ Incredibly HOT!! fleece liner and stepped out of theMall!! into theMinus 10degree farenheit Alaskan cold,
I got 200' away when I realized that I left my Tumbler coffeeCup!! sitting on theCounter by theRegister,
And in that 200' walk AWAY from theStore, my face, ears and hands started to burn and tingle from theCold.
Inside my newWinterJacket was a different kind of burn,
for my new winter coat of Black color hung not only from theWeight of my pocket contents,
theCheckBook-sized PocketCalender, theBaristaGuidebook,
my ColoredPens to mark my Paper coffeeCups-as I lined them up on Counter to make client requested Coffee drinks,
and a host of other "PocketLitter",
but my newWinterJacket hung upon my shoulders with theWeight of dreaded concern that Fleece and ONLY "fleece" can do to me,
Fleece makes me uncomfortably hot,
unseasonably hot and irritable.
I'd rather be cold or cool than warm or even HOT.
That's just me, because I grew up in theDakota's region of theMidWest United States.
I'd walk to HeadStart a few blocks away in hand me down clothes,
I'd walk my siblings to school later on in thread bare clothes and we got used to being cold, it just happened.
Now, almost 4 decades later cold was a natural state to be in,
and what better place to live than in Alaska!? if you want to be in cold weather half the calendar year?
I unzipped my jacket and moved my shoulders in theHeat created by my coat of monoColor!!
my Hood held my KnitCap and Leather gloves, like a safety box of sorts as well as holding onto my "safetyBottle!!" a 5th of Vodka.
Some people live to drink, I live to eat AND to live and sometimes I drink.
and every Alaskan winter, with each new coat I bought, I made sure that it had a hood so I could carry sundries like, a KnitCap!! and gloves,
and for this last 2 yrs at least, Water, Juice or Gin!! to keep me hydrated AND WARM.
"You need to pull thePastry's 2 hours before....."
.... before I leave work, yes I know.
I glanced around theCounter and theShelves underneath,
locked my eyes upon theRed light of theIndustrialCoffeeMachine, theLight that says
"I'm ON, Don't turn me off Sam!!, I take 45mins to 90mins to heat back up if you shut me off inadvertently while 6 to 10 coffeeAddicts line up in queu waiting for caffiene drip.
What did I forget!?
By now, I wasn't cold anymore and was getting uncomfortably warm again,
Why was it so warm in here?!
ohh..
my FleeceJacket.
And where's my coffeeTumbler!?
There.
I scooped it up and reached behind my head,
dropped the 16oz White tumbler into my Hoodie.
It softly "clunked" against my plastic bottle of BacardiGold
I'd read theCoffeeStore Mgrs notes to me months and months and months before,
Clean this, move that, watch for newShipment, call so and so, take notes!!
"and smile damnit!!"
"We're sposed to be NICE to everyone"
What did I forget now??
I waited a moment and then,
turned and went back outside,
Our Kiosk was inside a major grocer store that was open 24 / 7 and was always manned, we never worried much about security or robbery or from me forgetting to turn the sink water OFF anymore.
In fact, we never really had to lock doors or set security alarms,
We Barista's just had to clean up throughout our shifts and stock things,
and keep churning out theExpresso drinks and divvying out thePastrys
Back in the cold outside I got "hot" again.
The kind of heat that comes when theCold settles into your flesh,
seeps into your clothes and eventually numbs your thighs and stiffens your back.
My. Back.
Straighten it out,
Tense up till theSpinal column "pops".
Down the street I paused at theLight and then scurried across theIcy road.
"Straighten your back out mr Flyinghorse", my Academy PT instructor said to me.
"then Dip slowly..." he demonstrated a DeepKnee bend with perfect form and then
"Pop up again.." He gazed at me intently, my StateTroop Instructor expecting me to repeat what he said and did.
and I DID!!
He once again repeated and reDemonstrated to me his form,
and he started to annoy me that morning while the rest of theAcademy class kept on moving to the next round of exercises while we stood there doing DeepKnee bends,
but looking back on that moment,
theTeacher!! knew, he knew that theStudent would some day NEED that one moment of Recall for something in his life, Need it for his own strength, Need it to drive on and get to a Destination, Would NEED IT to eventually share theSame!! teaching moment with someone else that Needed it.
And this Trooper, If he, a man half my age could have me quiver in my PT reeboks,
I'd hate to be stopped by him while Driving Drunk!!
Cos that Troop might, per theUsual order / Round of DUI FST's
(Driving Under theInfluence FieldSobrietyTests that theTroops give to people they pull over) Make them (or me) do DeepKnee bends in public with traffic whizzing by!!
But theImage of that long ago Academy exercise morning rose into my mind and lingered-then evaporated as quickly as theVaporSteam from my lungs as I crossed theHighway at a quickTrot.
My Granpa called it "Parachute Shuffle",
and he'd demonstrate for me, a teenageGranson of his during summer months that were filled with Boxing lessons and diatribes of WorldWarII exploits against NaziGermany.
But Granpa drug theSoles of his feet on the ground and kicked up dust!!
Then he looked at me with the same Intensity that theSameTeachers!! would stare at me throughout my Life would give and expect me to "repeat, and reShuffle"
I shuffled. On down theStreet!!
I saw him fall. Get up. Shuffle some more. Then Fall again. And again.
he was a drunk Native. You could tell. Cos they always fall and get up, then shuffle some more then fall again and get back up.
I got closer and closer and he put his hands in his pockets nervously,
then upon realizing, through his Inebriate haze, that I too was Native,
he asked me "Can I have a cigarette?!"
"I don't smoke" I apologized.
"damn shame!! he smiled at me and I could see that Visually,
he WAS smokey.
His worn blue jeans and black jacket were mottled with fallen snow that packed onto him as he fell and he stood before me, cold, drunk and drooling,
a quasi-SnowAngel that wasn't pristine white, or rather, in the sense of seeing snow Angels after you get up OFF the ground,
theImpression in theSnow "Looks" dark only because of snow "compaction", "Lighting" and that makes theAngel look...
well.
Dark!!, smokey colored.
My PublicSafety-self spoke up and started to quiz him,
Was he ok?!,
Did he need a taxi!?
Was there any friends to call?!
But he didn't want any help, he had no friends except those in Jail or at theShelter!!, and the shelter had refused him because he was drunk so he started walking, and walking and walking....
apparently till an hour later when he saw me.
He looked at me, stiffened his body slightly,
I almost expected "HIM!!" to immediately do a DeepKnee Bend like my VPSO Academy Instructors, but he relaxed and said that he "was hungry".
In the Nylon Mesh backPack I wore upon my person every day, I kept a morsel of food of "some kind",
a girlfriend of mine pointed out once,
"you always think with your stomach Sam!!", then she tickled me,
I hugged her back.
yes I did, Sometimes!!
Without hesitation I shrugged off thePack and opened up the gathered drawStrings,
a Jogger passing by with 2 SledDogs escorting her, Also having seen theMan fall from afar, passed by and she voiced her concerns,
I was too busy pulling out my uneaten subwaySandwich to hear what she said, but theNative greeted her and then he turned back to me and she kept moving down the street as I kept digging in my Pack,
I found my sandwich then
and I quietly thought to myself,
"from Jared's Pants, and almost to MY pants".....
"to Yours!!" I quipped aloud and I handed the InebriateMan my food,
"thanks!!" he snatched up theWrap and took a bite.
I told him I had no water with me and kept my head very still so my 5th of Vodka wouldn't shlosh!! anymore and alert theNative, but he probably already knew I had "my" drink.
After 2 bites he went to put theSandwich away and shook my hand then
withdrew his stiffened Cold arm and looked at it for a moment,
he whispered softly to me before he left my company....
"it burns...."
Then I realized, what I had forgotten!!
I had left our spaceHeater "ON" at theCoffeeKiosk!!
"....and turn theHeater OFF Sam", read theNotes from my Supervisor-that sat on theCounter top a mile away from me.
My skin tingled and burned from theCold still,
but I didn't feel it as I went back to theMallStore.
--------------------------------------
Samuel L Flyinghorse
Anchorage, AK
alaskavillagetales
Spotless!!
well...
there was the Syrup splatters upon theBottles that I missed,
but, as my ShiftSupervisor told me once before (and several times after),
that such little mistakes in ClosingShift at theKiosk were forgivable ONLY IF
I had pretty much EVERYTHING else taken care of,
I shrugged my tired shoulders,
shouldered my nylonJacket w/ Incredibly HOT!! fleece liner and stepped out of theMall!! into theMinus 10degree farenheit Alaskan cold,
I got 200' away when I realized that I left my Tumbler coffeeCup!! sitting on theCounter by theRegister,
And in that 200' walk AWAY from theStore, my face, ears and hands started to burn and tingle from theCold.
Inside my newWinterJacket was a different kind of burn,
for my new winter coat of Black color hung not only from theWeight of my pocket contents,
theCheckBook-sized PocketCalender, theBaristaGuidebook,
my ColoredPens to mark my Paper coffeeCups-as I lined them up on Counter to make client requested Coffee drinks,
and a host of other "PocketLitter",
but my newWinterJacket hung upon my shoulders with theWeight of dreaded concern that Fleece and ONLY "fleece" can do to me,
Fleece makes me uncomfortably hot,
unseasonably hot and irritable.
I'd rather be cold or cool than warm or even HOT.
That's just me, because I grew up in theDakota's region of theMidWest United States.
I'd walk to HeadStart a few blocks away in hand me down clothes,
I'd walk my siblings to school later on in thread bare clothes and we got used to being cold, it just happened.
Now, almost 4 decades later cold was a natural state to be in,
and what better place to live than in Alaska!? if you want to be in cold weather half the calendar year?
I unzipped my jacket and moved my shoulders in theHeat created by my coat of monoColor!!
my Hood held my KnitCap and Leather gloves, like a safety box of sorts as well as holding onto my "safetyBottle!!" a 5th of Vodka.
Some people live to drink, I live to eat AND to live and sometimes I drink.
and every Alaskan winter, with each new coat I bought, I made sure that it had a hood so I could carry sundries like, a KnitCap!! and gloves,
and for this last 2 yrs at least, Water, Juice or Gin!! to keep me hydrated AND WARM.
"You need to pull thePastry's 2 hours before....."
.... before I leave work, yes I know.
I glanced around theCounter and theShelves underneath,
locked my eyes upon theRed light of theIndustrialCoffeeMachine, theLight that says
"I'm ON, Don't turn me off Sam!!, I take 45mins to 90mins to heat back up if you shut me off inadvertently while 6 to 10 coffeeAddicts line up in queu waiting for caffiene drip.
What did I forget!?
By now, I wasn't cold anymore and was getting uncomfortably warm again,
Why was it so warm in here?!
ohh..
my FleeceJacket.
And where's my coffeeTumbler!?
There.
I scooped it up and reached behind my head,
dropped the 16oz White tumbler into my Hoodie.
It softly "clunked" against my plastic bottle of BacardiGold
I'd read theCoffeeStore Mgrs notes to me months and months and months before,
Clean this, move that, watch for newShipment, call so and so, take notes!!
"and smile damnit!!"
"We're sposed to be NICE to everyone"
What did I forget now??
I waited a moment and then,
turned and went back outside,
Our Kiosk was inside a major grocer store that was open 24 / 7 and was always manned, we never worried much about security or robbery or from me forgetting to turn the sink water OFF anymore.
In fact, we never really had to lock doors or set security alarms,
We Barista's just had to clean up throughout our shifts and stock things,
and keep churning out theExpresso drinks and divvying out thePastrys
Back in the cold outside I got "hot" again.
The kind of heat that comes when theCold settles into your flesh,
seeps into your clothes and eventually numbs your thighs and stiffens your back.
My. Back.
Straighten it out,
Tense up till theSpinal column "pops".
Down the street I paused at theLight and then scurried across theIcy road.
"Straighten your back out mr Flyinghorse", my Academy PT instructor said to me.
"then Dip slowly..." he demonstrated a DeepKnee bend with perfect form and then
"Pop up again.." He gazed at me intently, my StateTroop Instructor expecting me to repeat what he said and did.
and I DID!!
He once again repeated and reDemonstrated to me his form,
and he started to annoy me that morning while the rest of theAcademy class kept on moving to the next round of exercises while we stood there doing DeepKnee bends,
but looking back on that moment,
theTeacher!! knew, he knew that theStudent would some day NEED that one moment of Recall for something in his life, Need it for his own strength, Need it to drive on and get to a Destination, Would NEED IT to eventually share theSame!! teaching moment with someone else that Needed it.
And this Trooper, If he, a man half my age could have me quiver in my PT reeboks,
I'd hate to be stopped by him while Driving Drunk!!
Cos that Troop might, per theUsual order / Round of DUI FST's
(Driving Under theInfluence FieldSobrietyTests that theTroops give to people they pull over) Make them (or me) do DeepKnee bends in public with traffic whizzing by!!
But theImage of that long ago Academy exercise morning rose into my mind and lingered-then evaporated as quickly as theVaporSteam from my lungs as I crossed theHighway at a quickTrot.
My Granpa called it "Parachute Shuffle",
and he'd demonstrate for me, a teenageGranson of his during summer months that were filled with Boxing lessons and diatribes of WorldWarII exploits against NaziGermany.
But Granpa drug theSoles of his feet on the ground and kicked up dust!!
Then he looked at me with the same Intensity that theSameTeachers!! would stare at me throughout my Life would give and expect me to "repeat, and reShuffle"
I shuffled. On down theStreet!!
I saw him fall. Get up. Shuffle some more. Then Fall again. And again.
he was a drunk Native. You could tell. Cos they always fall and get up, then shuffle some more then fall again and get back up.
I got closer and closer and he put his hands in his pockets nervously,
then upon realizing, through his Inebriate haze, that I too was Native,
he asked me "Can I have a cigarette?!"
"I don't smoke" I apologized.
"damn shame!! he smiled at me and I could see that Visually,
he WAS smokey.
His worn blue jeans and black jacket were mottled with fallen snow that packed onto him as he fell and he stood before me, cold, drunk and drooling,
a quasi-SnowAngel that wasn't pristine white, or rather, in the sense of seeing snow Angels after you get up OFF the ground,
theImpression in theSnow "Looks" dark only because of snow "compaction", "Lighting" and that makes theAngel look...
well.
Dark!!, smokey colored.
My PublicSafety-self spoke up and started to quiz him,
Was he ok?!,
Did he need a taxi!?
Was there any friends to call?!
But he didn't want any help, he had no friends except those in Jail or at theShelter!!, and the shelter had refused him because he was drunk so he started walking, and walking and walking....
apparently till an hour later when he saw me.
He looked at me, stiffened his body slightly,
I almost expected "HIM!!" to immediately do a DeepKnee Bend like my VPSO Academy Instructors, but he relaxed and said that he "was hungry".
In the Nylon Mesh backPack I wore upon my person every day, I kept a morsel of food of "some kind",
a girlfriend of mine pointed out once,
"you always think with your stomach Sam!!", then she tickled me,
I hugged her back.
yes I did, Sometimes!!
Without hesitation I shrugged off thePack and opened up the gathered drawStrings,
a Jogger passing by with 2 SledDogs escorting her, Also having seen theMan fall from afar, passed by and she voiced her concerns,
I was too busy pulling out my uneaten subwaySandwich to hear what she said, but theNative greeted her and then he turned back to me and she kept moving down the street as I kept digging in my Pack,
I found my sandwich then
and I quietly thought to myself,
"from Jared's Pants, and almost to MY pants".....
"to Yours!!" I quipped aloud and I handed the InebriateMan my food,
"thanks!!" he snatched up theWrap and took a bite.
I told him I had no water with me and kept my head very still so my 5th of Vodka wouldn't shlosh!! anymore and alert theNative, but he probably already knew I had "my" drink.
After 2 bites he went to put theSandwich away and shook my hand then
withdrew his stiffened Cold arm and looked at it for a moment,
he whispered softly to me before he left my company....
"it burns...."
Then I realized, what I had forgotten!!
I had left our spaceHeater "ON" at theCoffeeKiosk!!
"....and turn theHeater OFF Sam", read theNotes from my Supervisor-that sat on theCounter top a mile away from me.
My skin tingled and burned from theCold still,
but I didn't feel it as I went back to theMallStore.
--------------------------------------
Samuel L Flyinghorse
Anchorage, AK
alaskavillagetales
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