I haz a job!
I went out to talk to my 81 year old Chicana neighbor today, to ask her if she needed any of the cilantro that's naturalized in my yard. No, she has her own. Maybe she would like to plant some where this Bermuda grass is, she thought.
Does she need some seed? No, she's got seed.
I remembered from the last time I was over the day the other day, helping her move around paving stones the crazy guy f''d up, that there were some stumpy weed roots that one could easily trip over. I offered to come over and chop them out with my loppers.
She said okay. I worked on that for a bit, and then she showed up with a quite decent pickaxe, told me this would work better. And indeed it did. I sure showed those roots.
"That boy," she said; "I told him to do this, but..." shook her head. I know that boy. He has quite a reputation around here for being deeply peculiar. Got busted for stalking awhile back, sent to jail. Shortly before that he ran for Mayor. I think he got three votes.
I don't know who it is who "sent her" this guy, but she's 81 years old and I think she could do better than be sent this sort of person, no?
I'd just help her out for free, but she wants to pay me. She wants to pay me in menudu, Top Ramen, little pots of beans, frozen packets of meat, and the occasional vegetable. Also, she wants to pay me in dollars. The crazy guy got $15 to mess up her paving stones and forget to dig out her weed stumps. She pointed that out a number of times.
She wants her yard perfect. It seriously upsets her when there are weeds in her landscaping. She knows what everything is and where it came from.
Meanwhile, I've been duking it out on the Topix Forum with local Republicans who can't work out just why it is inappropriate to hate on Mexicans who come up here to work for a bit more than the maquiladoras pay them. Best comment this month from Rico in East L.A. was along the lines of; "Well, the maquiladoras were supposed to enhance Mexican manufacturing, and apparently they are just increasing illegal immigration to the USA instead, such a problem..so perhaps the good denizens of the USA would like to have these maquiladoras moved up there?" (rephrasing mine; Rico was actually more succinct and funny).
So I talked to my neighbor some more, and suggested that she give me the $15 next time she needs stuff done, since we both don't like the crazy guy. My pay will perhaps be better than those of the maquiladoras. Still, she's my neighbor. And, what goes around comes around. Or at least, it should.
I currently have a commitment to get paid $7 to dig out a bunch of Bermuda grass, with an offer to throw in more work on moving around the paving stones. Digging out Bermuda grass is like washing dishes; one of those endless chores always there to be done. Move around paving stones can be fun, though. And if I don't help her with it, I'll have to deal with watching her doing it herself, struggling around with her handtruck, relentlessly moving those babies one at a time, to where she wants them.
Yeah, I'm being used. I'm always getting used. But this kind of getting used is right, it's honest. It's really what I've been looking for, unconsciously, all these years of getting used.
To be used by someone who really does need my help, and appreciates it to boot.
Wish us luck.