lay-offs -| forgeronbrothers

Today's been a pretty lousy day.

Well. If you line up all my days and tell me to put today somewhere on a scale, it would be somewhere near the middle, though definitely towards the worse. What I'm sayin' is days have been worse. I've toughed it out. We have, me and JB. But that's what JB got me this here tape for, to talk things out with somebody since it can't always be him (even though I know he wishes it was.) He's a good brother like that. Maybe one day I'll let him listen to this and see how I'm thinkin'. But for now, I know this plastic junk will listen to me whether it wants to or not.

So. Everything started well. The place we've been staying the past few months is what JB would call scenic. I like the green leaves that wrap 'round the cement columns, real pretty. The floors stay warm at night, not too cold like cobblestone does in the colder months. There are lots of abandoned factories out here in Six. We ain't the only kids who claim homes around this area, but JB found a really good spot for us that no one else knows about. Allows us a little bit of privacy for just us two. There's respect amongst the street urchin too. If you claim a territory, no one around here's gonna take it from ya unless you wrong 'em in some way. Then that's on you two to deal with it personally and don't involve anyone else. But even then, I don't wanna risk it, so I try and keep where we're stayin' nice and discreet.

I got to sleep in today even. With most of the factories bein' open twenty-four hours a day, the shift pull depends on how much the big bosses like ya. I'm a big lush, ya know, everybody loves The Captain so Mr. Carbonneau likes to keep me on the first shift right next to him, bright and early. Been startin' at five in the morning, done by two, have the rest of the day to chill with JB. But, on my way to swipe out last night, Shackler, he's the foreman, told me to come in for the second shift today instead, said Grant needed to work the first shift for a family emergency. I always liked Grant tons so of course, I said yes, didn't mind getting the sleeping in either. Plus, I found out he had a conveyor shift, and I love a conveyor shift.

All you gotta do is simple: sit at the belt all day and shoot the shit with the guys. Maybe that's not how the guys upstairs would describe it, but that's sure how we do! Those boys, they're always bumpin' and hawin' and I don't get to see 'em as much anymore since I got transferred to the first shift. These are the sacrifices I'm gonna have to make if I'm gonna buy our house back one day, 'specially if I'm gonna get it before Pa gets out.

But you'd think I'd have had a good day with all this, and I guess I did. Walked into work too 'cause I had so much time, wasn't rushing in before the pun had even woken up. It wasn't too hot neither, didn't sweat any which is sayin' something for me. Once I swiped in the metal clock-in device with my employee ID (fancy right, got one of those,) The Captain dragged up an old metal chair and propped myself right at the strap, ready to screw. Game on. You should have seen Jet, Moose, and Press's faces - they were shocked. I was laughin' up a storm thinking I'd gotten 'em so good, but that's where it gets to the not-so-good part.

They were worried about me. Worried! 'Cause I was there, right there in front of 'em! Said they thought I'd gotten demoted back down to the belt. I huffed at 'em thinking I'd done something worth coming down to the belt already. Nut they weren't teasin'. It was 'cause of Grant, they said. Came screaming out of Shackler's office a couple of hours earlier, cryin' too, the whole charade. Moose said he heard from Benny who heard from Neo that Mr. Charbonneau laid him off. "Couldn't afford to keep him on." But he's got two young sisters, I know 'em too, Martia and Lindi. Neither of 'em is old enough to work yet, and they're girls too so it's harder to find stuff here.

Changed the mood of the day real fast. I don't think we've ever been so productive. Or quiet. Jet wasn't wisecrackin' or nothing as we worked away. That's how I knew it was serious. I can't stop thinking about it either, it's haunting my brain like a non-stop daydream - I think I've gotta tell JB. But what if he thinks about quitting school or something ridiculous? No chance. But he's gotta know. I can't spring it on him if it happens to me. I don't know what I'd do. I've been sitting here after work, this tape in my hands slurring along but The Captain can't point in which way to go. I love JB but do I scare him?

Set a course for home.