I welcomed reporting to work. Only a four-day work week, because of New Year’s. The union guys would get a paid holiday; I would only be paid for the time I worked. Better than nothing.Everyone looked groggy and out of sorts. More than a week on the same schedule with the rest of the world. Hard to make the adjustment back. I punched in and waited for my assignment. Plating room, I hoped.I didn’t see Kelly, but then, she didn’t need to wait for her assignment. She’d be back in the shipping room, checking out the forklift that hadn’t been used in days. Would she be happy to see me, or would she be embarrassed about how drunk she’d been when I last saw her? I wasn’t sure how I felt about that, either.John came in, clipboard in his hand. He looked around at us and frowned. Checking positions off with a stubby pencil, he called out assignments.Plater number two went to someone called Steamboat, who picked up his things and went grumbling toward the plating room. The other three positions went to their usual operators.I waited in uneasy silence as he read off the rest of the jobs.“I got to talk to you, Jesse,”
