He’d have to stay away some days in order to practise new sports. He was eager for promotion where he worked and since there was a rapid turnover of bosses he was forced to learn a new sport with every boss. I say forced, but he forced himself. Life was no good if you couldn’t talk his favourite sport with the boss, and maybe, with luck, you might get to play with him on the weekend. Who knows what might happen then? You might just hit it off. And next time, when a promotion came up . . . The only time I ever saw him drunk he kept saying over and over, ‘I’m getting smarter. Every day I’m further up the ladder. Every day I’m smarter. Every . . .’ His present boss was a fisherman, and Ernie had heard this from someone other than the boss. Nevertheless, he took the chance and started to learn about fishing. He loaded himself up with many dollars worth of equipment and on his first day off took a boat out from Brooklyn and fished in the shallows near a rail bridge.
