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floor to the second floor all morning. Even though they had established an efficient system of getting the blocks upstairs, they still had nearly two hundred blocks left. I felt bad that they had been working hard while we hadn’t really done anything meaningful, but that was a moot point. We spent the rest of the afternoon on those two hundred blocks. It was hot, damn hot, and humid, and the cooler of water that Ken had supplied had been empty since ten. We each took turns at the water hose in between trips up the narrow flight of stairs with a cinder block in each hand. None of us were afraid of hard work, but we also knew the effects that the sweltering heat could have on anyone that didn’t remain hydrated.

Ken had disappeared to the hardware store by the time we finished, so we had to wait around for twenty minutes until he returned. While he was gone, I started a conversation with George, one of the neighbors who also happened to own the three buildings that we were working on. We discussed sports, Charleston, sports in Charleston (a short conversation), and Ken’s impending bout of unemployment. Evidently there had been a budget for Ken to follow, and he had already exceeded it.

George invited us all back to the construction site on Sunday to do some work on the side, and I told him that I would be there bright and early.

“Easy, kid,” he said. “It’s Sunday. Go ahead and sleep in.”

I explained to him that I was staying at the shelter on Meeting Street and that we weren’t exactly afforded the indulgence of sleeping in, but that I could come whenever he wanted. With newfound interest on his part, we settled on 10:00 Sunday morning.

Ken finally returned to sign our ticket and with the $5 I saved by walking to work instead of riding the EasyLabor van, I netted $36.48, bringing my total savings to $36.48. I had already purchased all of the essential goods that I needed to survive for a few days, so I didn’t need to stop by Family Dollar on my way back to the shelter.

I was off and running. I had money in my pocket and a smile on my face. I caught up with Marco just before check-in and we shared the day’s stories. Things were getting tenser with his father at home, so it was looking like he was going to be spending more and more time at the shelter, which wasn’t terribly bad news, since I felt we could make the ascent out of the shelter together. Even more on the upside, he had registered for classes for the coming semester at the local community college. Pending the results of his financial aid application, he would be enrolled in a two-year culinary arts program that would put him in a position where he could work his way up to be a chef at any restaurant in Charleston.

Dinner was lasagna—lots of it—and following a shower, I hit the sheets early after a long day of hard work. Angela had again mentioned that she had plenty of jobs for us for the next day, so I decided to delay my job search yet again. I was overcome with the anxiety of remaining unemployed, sure, but I refused to let those feelings get in the way of the task at hand. The cash that I could earn over the weekend would give me the freedom to implement a serious job search beginning Monday.

FOUR

BIG BABIES

Saturday, July 29

If there was one thing that I liked about working for the temp agency, it was the anticipation and excitement that came each day with each separate job. Sure, the pay sucked, terribly, but every day was a different experience. One day I could be a construction worker, and the next I could be a landscaper or a baby-clothes hanger.

Yep. That’s right. A baby-clothes hanger.

A slew of department stores and retail shops at the newly constructed Regis Outlet Mall in North Charleston were putting the finishing touches on their floor layouts. My first weekend in Charleston happened to be the final weekend before the shopping center’s grand opening, and several stores had received late shipments of their clothing lines, which was great for EasyLabor, as it had scored several contracts with Eddie Bauer, Nike, and an infant clothing