Gus

Sasonbury's Scrubbers

That was what our boss liked to refer his workers as.

As the newest Scrubber, I took the time to get to know some of my co-workers a little better: there was Quinn King, a man well into his 60s who hoped to retire soon and dreamt of becoming a successful poker player; Terence Martin, a quiet man that I could relate to a little; Ash Lee, an Asian guy who had a large family including 3 dogs; and Carol Eisenberg, a tough middle aged woman who liked to call me 'Sad Eyes' because my eyes were a dark blue and I wasn't too cheerful when I met her.
None of the co-workers I met seemed to any sort of license for window-washing, but either way we all needed the money. Luckily, the people I met hung out together at work (I met them as a group), so I knew where to go when I needed something.

The first job I was assigned to was an office building downtown. There were 53 floors I had to clean. Since I wasn't an expert singlehandedly with a rope attached to myself, Mr. Sasonbury gave me a scaffold to assist me.
I managed to clean all the windows without anything too serious happening. On the 22nd floor, someone even waved to me. On the 30th floor, an important-looking man asked me for my license to be doing this. I just told him I worked for Sasonbury and quickly lifted the scaffold to the next floor.
When I got back, Sasonbury congratulated me and sent me to the small lunchroom that was downstairs from the room we usually sit in to wait for an assignment.
I got some lunch from the one lunch lady, which reminded me of the food back in school. I saw Ash and Terence's heads sitting at a table towards a corner and headed over there.
"Hey, Gus," Ash greeted me kindly, "how was your first assignment?"
"Great," I replied, "I think my life might actually be taking a good turn."
The three of us chuckled and we saw Quinn coming over. He sat down and took a sandwich in a Ziploc bag out of his pants pocket and began biting into it.
"Goddamn that screwed up old hog," he grumbled, "when I git out of here I'll be makin' more money than he could stuff in his piggybank."
"What happened?" Ash asked.
"I ask the guy if he could let me go again. You know what he said? I tell you what he said. He said I was gonna have to be here for another few years! But I tell him, 'but sir, I'm 67 years old and my back is failing me.' He don't give a shit; he just tell me I gotta man up and get some pills for my back. What a scumbag."
"You can keep asking him, even if you're in the hospital with pneumonia he'll ask you to come in," Carol called as she walked towards our table with her lunch lady food.
"Carol, how d'ya do it?" Quinn asked, "how do ya never complain and just work and work and work every day? Didn't you say you have something in yer foot?"
"I just work through it," she said, patting Quinn on the back, "looks like you need a little guidance yourself."
"Guidance? I don't need guidance, I need to git outta here."
Carol laughed and turned to me. "So how is life treating you, Sad Eyes? Everything okay? I remember yesterday you told us about your poor mother."
I nodded. "She's been no better than before."
"I know what you mean, kid. My father was just like your mother. Always drained all our money away in his precious bottles of rum and beer. You know, I think Terence has been through something like that, haven't you, Terence?"
Terence had barely spoken a word since lunch began. I could tell he was even more shy than I was. I felt bad for him and gave him a warm smile. He finally opened up and told us a story about how both his older brother and father got into drinking habits, leaving him with nobody since his mother left the family. This job was the only way he could survive.
I was shocked by how similar Terence's story was to mine. I asked him how old he was, and he told me he was 19. I told him I was 18, and we shared a laugh and Quinn joked that we must be brothers separated at birth.

*********
By the time I turned 21, my life was the exact same as it had been 3 years ago. I still had my job, same friends, same slobbering mother, same house I lived in...
All except Quinn.

On a warm Tuesday morning, I walked to work just like any other day. There was a heatwave upon us, so Sasonbury allowed some of us to wear short sleeved clothes if we wanted to. When I got to work, I saw Ash, Terence, and Carol gathered outside the front door. Confused, I walked up to them and tapped Carol's shoulder. She turned around with a sad look on her face, as did Ash and Terence. I expected the worst.
Carol was the only one who told me anything, and she only spoke one fatal word: "Bronchitis."