Two jobs

[vaneramos]

For the first time in eons I achieved some sound sleep after 6 a.m. I woke up around the usual time, lay in a comfortable hypnopompic state for a while, then went back to sleep (without music) until about 8 a.m., probably about an hour.

Coincidentally I remember a dream, the first in months. I was working two full-time day jobs, organ building for Les and another one in a factory. Apparently I possessed Hermione's ability to be in two places at once. No magic was involved in this. In the dream world it was natural and necessary. I was exhausted but grateful for the extra income.

The factory work involved using a control mechanism and some physical exertion to repeatedly plunge a long, heavy steel shaft into a hole in the wall. The end of the shaft and the surface of the wall around the hole were painted red. The shape of the hole was six-sided, a square with the two upper corners sheared off. The surface above the hole had an M-shape inscribed in it. I had no idea about the purpose of this process, and didn't think about it.

One day upon arrival, I learned the factory had closed and I was being laid off. I had worked Monday to Wednesday but would not receive pay for those days. Somehow this happened on a Monday and also prevented me from showing up for my other job. I called Les to let him know I could not make it for the entire week.

Les called back to tell me we had service calls to make, which made it possible for him to pick me up. I felt disappointed, tired, irritated and relieved. As we drove along I told him about the other job, which I had so far concealed from him.

Les was driving. The driver's side was on the right. The sun was far more ancient and never rose far above the horizon. The sky was always orange and lay an orange cast over everything except the purplish-grey snow. We passed a large grain elevator and some silhouetted spruce trees. Sunlight lit up Les's face.