August 23, 2023, Wednesday—
I bought a Red Bull at the Mobil near work, where a guy with sharp dark features exhaled a plume of white vape. He had just stepped out of the attached McDonald’s. You understand the power of “young” when a McDonald’s bib apron evokes “samurai.”
Young people (the warehouse’s night crew skews young) are so distinct! Styles, music, humor. One dude is out of a teen movie, heavyset with a small knit cap with a pom pom. He speaks Spanish, is jovial but grave. Siouxsie Sioux and New Order glows from the speaker on his pallet jack. This energy! Or am I just sentimental? (Yes, and I’m still in my 40s.)
But midnight is euphoric, zooming on our pallet jacks in a pack of ten to pom pom’s “Safety Dance,” off to ask Primo what else we need to do before we can go home.
Or, maybe it was the Red Bull.
Photo (thumbnail?), the equipment I chose harbored a nail in the console area