Smoke Gets In yer Eyes

There are about four fires that have been burning around L.A. The closest one is in La Canada-Flintridge. Temps for today were predicted to be around 100. Which is why I only signed up for a half-day. Tuesday it was only about 90 and it was a hell day. Plus, I was working with a girl for the first half of Tuesday. Many chicks on this crew will try to avoid pulling the trash can.
Like today. This chick was just lazy. They make such a big deal about picking up the cig butts. And it was almost as if that was the only thing she was picking up. She left plenty of other garbage behind. I never tell my crew-mate what to do; and as a result, there've been too many times Julio came and made us go back and he'd kick the butts out in our face and pick up the trash we missed so why not just do it the first time around?
On Tuesday, the sun was hot on our backs by 8:30am. But because of the fires, this morning there was a thick brown haze holding back the heat. I had taken a Claritan-D, thats the strong one, along with 3 Aleve and a Welbutrin, and I was getting dizzy spells. Despite the Aleve, my back was threatening to go into spasm by 8:30. You know how the pain shoots up your sides almost to your waist? Welcome to my world.
And the pain would not have been so bad if whats-her-name had pulled the can an equal amount of time. Our route had been up Fairfax from Santa Monica to Fountain. That bitch gets heavy.
Plus, I was hungrier than usual. So when we got to Hayworth and the 7-Eleven, I got a Sweet & Salty granola bar and another water.
Of course, 'lazy' goes in, too. She'd been texting all morning, which is a big no-no. When they do this texting against the rules, and many do, they often will go on a side street and hide behind a tree or a car. But she's just standing on the side of Fairfax in that bright orange vest, punching away.
When she finally came out of the 7-Eleven, she really got busy. She crossed over to the other side of the street and just stood there punching buttons.

I just kept going, slowly pulling the can, making sure I pull in my Pilates powerhouse to protect my back. I don't know why I kept looking back at her, but I did. We had only seen Julio twice so far, and I had a feeling that he wasn't far. He always rolled around just when.

Sure enough, when I looked up the next time, I could see the light on top of the van, parked down passed the stop sign. Julio was acting busy, so I did, too.
Eventually, he moved the van closer and told us to get in, we're going somewhere else. I noticed three stalks of these little cream colored, bell-shaped flowers, about 20 on each stalk, laying on the passenger seat of the van. I asked Julio if he was going to give them to his girlfriend.
"No, I am going to eat them," he said. Of course, I laughed. "You think I'm kidding?" Julio is from El Salvador. His accent is kind of thick. We joked a little. Then he explained that the flowers are used in El Salvadorean cooking, and are especially tasty as an added flavor to scrambled eggs.

Sure enough, you DO learn something new every day.