Six Old English Eight Balls or Was it Miller High Life

He asked that his wages be 6 Miller High Life 40oz bottles a day until the job was complete. I wanted him to demo the sheetrock in the bedroom I had spent my childhood growing up in. His name was Joe Silva. He was a felon and an alcoholic. Momma liked him, though. He said he would only charge 200.00 dollars to do the 12x14 room and ceiling.

I had gone to visit my mother and looked around what was my childhood room. I had punched many holes in the walls from my youth. The holes were covered with various pictures and posters over my teen years. I had kicked a hole through the bathroom 30in door by age 11. I had a rage-aholic relationship with my own space. But anyway, I had a reached a point of wanting to reconcile this relationship of punishment, so I hired Joe. He was in his 50's and had just been released.

I was in the middle of leaving Tim. I was 32 and momma was 57. Momma and I purchased all the materials. We strapped the sheetrock down atop my Toyota Corolla. The pace of the job took three weeks. I slammed a hammer through one of the interior walls to find beer cans and cigarette boxes from my teen years littering the areas between studs. I guess these were my hiding places. Tucking the evidence of various weapons of self-annihilation in nooks and crannies to avoid revealing the obvious was apparently an art form for me.

I continued to cry my way through this entire process of repair. Momma would dap by eyes with a tissue.