Work
Joseph and I are sitting at his kitchen table, eating brownies with peanut butter chips and drinking cold coffee. He just cut his son's hair.
When he finishes sixth grade, Joseph stops going to school and starts working, washing dishes at the Country Kitchen. When he is fifteen, his alcoholic father kicks him out of the house, because Joseph refuses to drink. Miss Hearst charges him a little rent for a small sleeping room above the Country Kitchen.
When he is eighteen, Joseph gets into a big fight with his dad.
"You're going to Hell!"
"And you're coming with me!" His drunk father approaches.
"No I'm not!" Joseph lands an uppercut square on his chin.
Joseph is on Social Security. His wife of twenty years died last year. Tomorrow his son has an interview at a restaurant.
