I was so worried about how we were going to take care of a baby with me out of work. I applied to a lot of places. I wanted to get a good job so my wife and child would be taken care of. One afternoon I was leaving to go to apply for a job when I slipped and fell on a rain slicked hill outside where we lived. Oh crap! I couldn’t get up. I yelled for Darlene, she came and helped me to my feet. We went back inside and propped up my right foot. It was swelling up fast. We decided to go to our doctor and before you knew it I was taken to hospital, I had fractured my ankle. That day I had a screw placed in it. The next morning while I was still in the hospital waiting to get released I received a phone call.
Norfolk and Western Railroad was a job that I had applied for and really wanted. The money was going to be great. Darlene’s father had worked on Conrail for thirty years, and I knew that he had provided a good living for his family. Well it was the railroad who had called and they only had a few positions available and needed to fill them right away. I told then of what had happened to me and that I really needed the job and I would come work for them as soon as I could. The answer was no. The next day I went to the railroad office and standing there with my crutches I begged for them to wait for me to no avail.
I was off work just for a short time when I came across a job with the city of Ft. wayne. The job was a dirty one but it was an experience that I will never forget. In the summer months I was a street sweeper. I drove a big machine that had these powerful brooms that swept all of the debree from the streets. I was assigned to the central part of the city. I was also the only white man in this district. I made a few friends and got along just fine. I loved sweeping the streets. For the most part I was left alone as long as I did my job.
One day when I returned to the street department the street commisioner made an announcement to everyone. He said that he was following a trail of water left from a steet sweeper in the central part of the city and that the white boy who was sweeping the streets, swept streets like Michelangelo painted paintings, I received a big pat on the back and an applause from everyone in the department.
