Conversations : Taco Bell, welders, long days.

Vegan, organic, cage-free, ninety-nine cent menu, please.

Why were we at Taco Bell at 9.30pm on a weekday with four children?

Good question. We run hard. Very hard. After an evening of dancing, playing, and and hanging at the Zoo, they were hungry for something other than cups and sunflower seeds. So...Taco Bell.

My brain quickly processed the geometry as we simultaneously approached the entrance at a converging point with an late 40s fellow; grungy, hairy, earring, workman's clothes, did not look overly cheerful.

I grabbed the door and held it open for the kids, and then for him. He shook his head and waved me ahead. I smiled and stepped inside; the children quickly began turning the Taco Bell interior info a late night jungle gym. I waved the man ahead:

Go ahead,
I said.
We got a big crew here.

He shook his head.
No, no, I've got kids, they need to eat! Go ahead and get them some food!

You sure?

Yeah! I told you, I've had kids, I been there! I'm in no hurry.

I ordered burritos and too-spicy tostadas; he got his order in and we hung out by the soda machine while I filled up our boring water cups and he topped off a giant Mountain Dew.

How's your day been? I asked.

Long.
he said.
Really long. Fifteen hours, sixty feet on the air makes for long days.

Whoa. I said. What's taking you sixty feet up?

I'm a welder.
he said.
So much work right now, and not enough guys to help out. That's the way it goes with construction. Glad to be busy, but fifteen hour days welding up in the air start to take a toll, you know?

Sort of,
I said untruthfully, and then remembered my integrity.
Not really at all, now that I think about it. But it sounds intense.

Yeah. he said.

Well...
I said.
Thanks again for letting us cut ahead of you. Stay safe!

You too man.
he said,
and disappeared into the night.

An ongoing conversation with some children currently living in our household

What do you think you might want to do someday for a career?
I asked the children.

This is a question I ask multiple times a year, as I am always interested in the evolution of the responses.

I want to be, she said without hesitation, a marine biologist.

Cool. I said. You have been consistent on that recently. You will make a fine marine biologist if that's where your interests continue to lay. And you?

I think, he said. That I want to be a boat driver.

Okay. I said.
That's a new thing. What kind of boat?

A big boat.
he said.
Like Uncle Dave's. I've never been a boat driver before, so I think that's what I want to be when I grow up.

Well, I said. I think you will make a fine boat driver, and I would love to be a frequent passenger on your giant boat. Or yacht.

Other good things today.

Butterfly rescues
Neil Gaiman
Red Yarn
Belle and Sebastian "Sleep the Clock Around"

More conversations below