EWAN DIDNT
FIND
HIS JOB FOUND
His
job
HiS
HiM
TWENTY-EIGHT-YEAR-OLD
man gently brushed his hair to
the side, making sure the long
greasy strands were away from
his eyes. He was in an auditorium standing
up against a velvet cushioned wall..
Everything was quiet, 'cause he was alone.
The hall was burgundy velvet and had gold
studs and tassles used to drape the corri-
dors. Lights made soft to resemble oil
lamps flickered routinely.
The 28-year-old thought the auditorium
was a little spooky. In his mind he spoke to
himself while coolly stroking his hair. This
place is a little off. It's scary in here. Weight
shifting from one leg to the other. It's a little
strange in here. Where's the janitor? If he does-
n't show up soon, maybe I should leave this
freak house. The 28-year-old imagined what
he would say to him, the janitor, once he
arrived. "Hi, my name is... by the way, this
place looks a bit spooky." His face
rehearsed the gesture. Eyebrows up, slight
look of fear, followed by a tiny smile to con-
firm it was all OK.
Manny was the cleaning man, or janitor,
depending on what you'd use to describe
what Manny does some English people
would say, "Oh, he's the gentleman who
takes care of the upkeep." Manny's work
was carried out with the most extreme
caution. He loved the auditorium; he
treated the place with clean precision.
Manny inserted the key into the lock of
the auditorium door, and slowly turned.
Once unlocked, he pulled the door open.
Light shined in. His left foot held the door
open as his hands cautiously worked to
remove the key.
Once Manny was inside, the young man
could hear and was nervous. He shifted rou-
tinely. Manny moved slowly towards the
fresh tracks left in the carpet. There were
two going and one leaving; Manny assumed
Mr Stanton had shown the new possible
employee in. He followed. In the main cor-
up to the balcony, Manny saw a youthful sil-
ridor, just to the right of the stairs leading
houette leaning up against the diamond.
cushioned wall. Manny approached. As he
got closer, he viewed the carpet where the
man was standing. He could tell he was
restless by the footprints. Manny passion-
ately wanted to ask the young man to come
away from that wall, but he had met with
plenty others interviewing for the position
that were a million times worse. Instead,
Manny moved in, made eye contact, out-
stretched his hand, and said, "My name's
Manny. I'm in charge here. Away from the
wall at once."
With a hand outstretched, the two shook.
"My name's Ewan, sir. This palace is a bit
scary." His eyes opened wide and then
closed. A tiny hit of a smile... and Manny
completely ignored Ewan's facial gesture,
request for security.
"Follow me." Manny thought he'd usher
Ewan straight to the custodial room, where
the light was much brighter. He wanted to
observe more closely. "Did Mr Stanton
show you in?" Short pause.
Ewan was relieved. "Ah, yeah, I mean, yes.
He did, sir."
Once the two were in the custodial room,
Manny had a good look at Ewan. He was
young in his mannerisms, but his eyes and
face revealed that he had lived a pretty
rough life. Manny asked Ewan if he had
ever done custodial work. Ewan, upon
answering, looked Manny over and made
his judgements.
"It's pretty natural the way things are,"
Manny explained to Ewan. "I've been the
only one in charge of this auditorium for 14
years, so I treat it very peculiarly. I've
already had seven or eight people come
around for the job, all incompetent."
Ewan squirmed, then asked Manny if it
was all right if he took a seat..
Manny said, "A seat? Sure, have a seat.
Just don't take it home with you." Manny
passed Ewan a stool. The two were seated.
Manny said to Ewan, "Mr Stanton only
comes here to watch movies or see per-
formances about once every month or once
every two months. What I mean is that this
place is hardly used. But must be spotless
and ready for Mr Stanton at all times."
Ewan sat there, nodding his head and
every now and then pushing the greasy
strands away from his eyes. "Yeah, uh huh."
Manny finally said to Ewan, "Don't
'yeah, uh huh' me. If you're gonna work
here you're gonna have to cut those
bangs. I don't want hair grease on my
cleaning supplies."
Ewan felt like suddenly this wasn't a job. It
was more a change of his life. "This custo-
dial work is militant."
Manny didn't smile. "Not militant,
just professional."
Ewan thought about getting up off the
stool and leaving. He felt that he just need-
ed something not too hard to do, maybe
pushing a broom at his own pace, not cut-
ting his bangs and standing upright. Ewan
said, "Excuse me, sir, I think I'm not right
for this job."
Manny liked Ewan's bravery. "What do
you mean, not right?"
"Well," Ewan said, "I need a job. You
know, I need to work. I don't need some-
body commenting on how I wear my
hair. My hair is naturally greasy. Is that
my fault?"
Manny interrupted and told Ewan he
would show him to the door.
Ewan left the dark interior. Once outside,
his eyes took a few minutes to adjust.
"Sorry," Manny said.
"No, I'm sorry," Ewan said. The doors to
the auditorium closed and Manny was
gone. From the outside, the auditorium
looked like a closed-down warehouse.
Posters and concert bills were plastered
around it with a little local graffiti.
"Hot damn." Ewan walked home. The
streets were quiet. Everybody was at work
or school or daycare. Ewan giggled to him-
self. His dad worked at the daycare for
adults. That's what they called the state
prison. Ewan's dad was friends with Mr.
Stanton. He wondered what he would tell
his dad about the job interview.
"It didn't go so well. I wanted to tell
the fucker to go to hell," or, "The job's
not to my likings, Pop, but thank you for
the opportunity."
Six weeks later Ewan was back and knew
how to clean exactly like Manny. His hair
was cut. He didn't shift his weight. He stood
still until he was asked to move.
"Very good." Manny liked Ewan's change.
of behavior. Soon Manny thought he'd be
able to take a vacation. "Ready for lunch?"
Ewan, standing in the dressing room
sweeping, said, "Yes, sir."
Manny liked and appreciated Ewan's
response. The two sat eating in front of the
auditorium. Occasionally some pusher
would pass and ask Manny and Ewan if
they were interested in buying-Manny,
with a face of stone, usually put his thumb
downward to signify no.
"Boy, your sandwich smells good,
Ewan," Manny said while sipping SunTea.
"What is that?"
Ewan chewed up and then answered, "It's
a BLT with arugula. It's the arugula you
probably smell."
Manny wanted a taste but didn't have the
nerve to ask, and Ewan didn't offer. A
screeching sound was headed their way. It
was a hobo. He was a local to the area. His
cart was dolled out; he must have used a
Bristol brush so the chrome wouldn't shine.
His smile was ugly.
"Hello," he said to Manny and Ewan.
The sight of him gave Ewan an idea to
make up a story.
Ewan got into his storytelling mode. He
relaxed himself comfortably. He brought
his right hand up to where his bangs were,
but then realized his hair was gone. This
made him pissed. The story didn't begin in
ordinary form. Rather, it jumped straight
into a climax.
"Well, listen. Never had I seen anything
like that before. He took the fire with his
hands and folded it up into a tiny square. I
felt sick-seriously like woozy. Like, it's
hard to explain. I get goosebumps just
talking about it."
Manny said, "Please try and finish up.
What do you mean?"
Ewan's face got intense. His words came
out of his mouth slowly. "OK, the fire was
burning. It was real. First of all, I know it.
was real 'cause I lit it. I struck a match
and started a fire. The man asked if I'd
like to see a trick. 'Sure,' I said, 'What's it
'Astounding,' I said to myself. When I tried
to unfold the flames, boom! They were back
in the fireplace burning again. It was like as
soon as I was interested in knowing, there
was this sudden loss of excitement. The
whole trick was suddenly finished. I looked
at the man and he was grinning big. His
teeth were rotting. I suddenly felt afraid, like
life is a lot more.
Manny, a little skeptical, asked, "What do
you mean, Ewan?"
"Well, I just got tripped out. All human
explanations seemed idiotic. Not just the
words that explain optical illusions or
hypnotism or anything like that. I mean,
no words fit. Only facial expressions
made sense."
Manny said, "That shit sounds like voodoo."
Ewan said, "It wasn't voodoo. It was like a
man taking the form of God, or a god, like
you know, a Creator. I mean, somehow this
dirty fucking dude with ugly teeth knew
how the world worked. I mean, all the ele-
ments behind it. Like, you know, a coin, for
instance, has two sides. Imagine one side of
the coin is where humans are, but on the
other side there are, like, all the rules to how
things are made. You know, the nature of
things. Somehow this guy knew what cer-
tain things were made up of. He knew how
to change 'em, stop 'em, rearrange 'em-
anything, so it seemed."
Manny's jaw was dropped. He was just lis-
tening to Ewan talk.
Mop THE FLORE WITH A
cost?' 'Nothing.' 'OK, let's see it' First he
looked around the room, at the furniture,
pictures on the walls, rugs. Then his eyes
zeroed in on the fireplace. He walked over
to it and said, 'Watch this.' I watched.
intently and then he stuck his hands into
the fireplace and pulled the fire out. I
couldn't believe it. I was like, 'Holy shit!'
Then he laid the fire down on the floor."
Manny's eyes were opened big. He
believed Ewan's story. "Go on."
Ewan said, "Well, I just sat there watching,
and smoke was coming up and I thought it
was burning the floor, but he flipped the
flames over and then folded them once,
then twice. It was strange. He folded them
into an envelope size. He handed them to
me. I looked at what I was holding.
"It's strange," Ewan said. "I got weirded
out. I swear, the strangest thing is I tried
to give the guy money, like, you know,
money for the trick, but he wouldn't take
it. He said, 'For you, it's free.' 'Why?' I
said. "Cause I like you.' He left, and I
never forgot that. That was the craziest
shit that ever happened to me."
"Don't curse around me again," Manny
said, and then was quiet.
Ewan sensed that he was able to make
Manny believe. Slowly, he pulled out a
Zippo lighter. "You wanna start a fire and
see if I can do it?"
Manny had a scared look in his eyes and
said, "No. I don't like that kinda thing. It's a
bit too bizarre for me."
Ewan started laughing. Manny's face
looked confused. Ewan, being a lot
younger than Manny, felt bad for how
gullible he was. "I was joking, Manny. It's
April Fool's, man. Nobody folds fire.
Come on."
The whole rest of the day Manny stayed
quiet. Ewan felt bad, and at the end of the
day Ewan promised to bring Manny a BLT
with arugula.
Manny, still afraid, said, "I don't want any-
thing from you." The earliest thought of
Ewan came to Manny's mind. His long,
greasy hair, hand pushing bangs out of his
eyes. Manny looked at Ewan now with his
hair short and felt bad.
NICE
ANGRY
FEELING
-Mark Gonzales
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