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I see my son once a week. We always go eat Indian food at the same place. We order the same thing every time. The waiters have the whole order memorized. We don’t even have to ask for menus. 2
The guy who owns the place is big and fat. When we show up each Wednesday at three or four in the afternoon to eat, the owner is, usually, sitting talking to a salesman or a relative by the front door. I have never seen him working. If there is a new waiter or waitress he might holler instructions to them without getting out of his seat but that is about all.3
Lately my son has been looking for a job. He has been pretty sheltered up tell now and has only had occasional work here and there. When I picked him up he told me he had gotten a job as an inventory-taker. He said the hours were flexible and it paid ten buck an hour. This would allow him to go to school and work at the same time.4
On this particular day Lehman Brothers a big Wall Street firm had filed for bankruptcy. Bank of America had bought another big Wall Street bank, Merrill Lynch, and AIG the monstrous insurance company was said to be in trouble. Actually the next day the government stepped in and took it over. As a result the stock market had dropped five hundred points. Conversely the price of gold had shot up ninety-five dollars as scared investors looked for a safe place to park their money. This was the largest single day rise for gold ever. 5
When we got to the restaurant they were packed. Usually we were the only ones in the place at that early hour but today there were three or four other tables. Everyone was hustling around. To our amazement even the fat owner was running around pouring water and clearing dirty dishes. It was making him sweat. 6
“What a remarkable day” I said, “the economy of America is disappearing down the toilet, the price of gold is soaring, the fat guy is working…” “And I got a job. Hell must have frozen over at last,” my son added.7
Amen!8
Bud 20089
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