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“Even if it’s the week after, we’ll be okay. Ruiz and my boys have already got the floors, some of the wall studding, a lot of the stuff we usually do later. Once the steel arrives, we’ll get the exterior up pronto.”
Da
“Just an early chill.”
“Sure. Seventy again before you know it. We’ll be working in bathing suits.”
The younger McCloskey snorted. “You mean we’ll be working.”
Da
Neither McCloskey needed to be told whom he was talking to. Da
“I’m sorry about that, Dan. He’s a good kid, a worker. He’s just young.” McCloskey stood like a supplicant, hands folded and eyes down.
Da
McCloskey shrugged.
“Don’t worry about it. I mouthed off to a few guys in my day. I imagine you did, too.”
“One or two.” The foreman smiled.
“It’s forgotten. No, I wanted to talk privately is all. Jim, I’m sorry, but I’m going to recommend to Richard that we put this site on hold for the winter.”
“That’s a mistake. We’ve got two months, maybe more. We can get it done.”
“Maybe.”
“I’m telling you, I think we can.”
Da
Screw that.
Da
McCloskey looked surprised, then nodded, set down his hat and took a seat. Da
“Dan, no disrespect, but I got yard boys out there know this stuff.”
“What they don’t know is how high the stakes are now.”
“What do you mean?”
“Money’s tight. The economy, the whole Internet thing, it hit us, too. We had two projects default on final payments this year. Not bad people, just ran out of money.” Da
“Jesus.”
“Exactly. Listen, I’d love to see this place humming over the winter. But it’s a bad play. Something goes wrong, we can’t get the other two ready…” He let it dangle, gave McCloskey time to make up his own mind.
After a pause, the man spoke. “My crew?”
“I’ve talked Richard into moving them to the other two. We’ve thrown some big bids for next year. We may have to go to shifts, but nobody loses their job this winter.”
“Me?”
“We have work for you. And you’ll get to finish here, Jim.”
McCloskey nodded slowly, the splintered toothpick in his mouth bobbing. “All right. I’ll tell the boys.”
He rose with quiet dignity, and for a moment Da
McCloskey opened the door, paused. “Dan. Thanks.”
“No worries. One thing, though.”
“Yeah?”
“Call me Da
The foreman smiled, nodded, and stepped out. The shutting door cut off the crackle of welding and the wind’s whistle.
Da
He suspected the old man would have liked that quite a bit.
The thought made him grin. Then, unbidden, a stretch of the Eisenhower arose in his mind. Soft flakes of snow. A squeal of tires. His smile wilted.
A clatter from outside brought him back to the moment. Forget it. Square up the paperwork here, then head back to the office. Forward motion. Forget Dad, and forget Evan.
So he was back in town. So what?
Da
5
Da
They’d been there half an hour, chatting about nothing in particular, before McCloskey got serious. “Listen, Dan – Da
“Don’t worry about it. Really.” As McCloskey extricated a toothpick from his vest pocket, Da
“The picks?” McCloskey grimaced. “Smoked two packs a day for twenty years. Quit a couple back. My youngest daughter. Chew one of these instead of lighting a straight.”
“It help?”
“Some. But anything you do that long, you never get all the way over it.”
Da
“Nine. You believe it?”
Da
“So cheers, then.” They clinked glasses and threw down the whiskey. McCloskey gestured to the girl, and she came over with the bottle. Up close Da
Da