The giant black cauldron with the "Open All Night" sign underneath it was and continues to be a comforting sight. The Kettle restaurant was where I picked up my first copy of The Manhattan Beach Daily Gazette. It was while pouring over that paper in the wee hours with a bottomless cup of coffee that I found the want ad that lead to my first job as a typesetter at that very newspaper. I found my first apartment in that same edition. I circled the roommate wanted ad and called the number the first thing in the morning. I could have saved myself seventy five cents and just asked the waitress who was pouring all that coffee, because it turned out she was the one who had placed the ad. Sharon worked the graveyard shift at The Kettle and I worked from seven in the morning until three in the afternoon at the MBDG settin' type. Neither one of us could afford an apartment on our own, but since we worked different hours, it was almost like having your own place.
Anyway, I lost my job today. The MBDG is out of business. It got bought by a bigger newspaper and we were all let go, even my boss Lester was sent packing. They didn't have any use for us. They just bought us and told us to get lost. I worked there for three years and now here I am sittin' at my booth in The Kettle and circling ads in a different newspaper. Sharon is pouring me cup after cup of coffee only this time she's givin' me suspicious looks. She's worried about the rent. I'm worried that I might find she's already placed an ad for a new roommate.
Timing is everything. As I look out into my second jobless night in California, three years apart from my first jobless night in California, it dawns on me that if I had arrived in Manhattan Beach during the day, none of this might ever have happened.
Looking back over those three years, I guess the craziest thing that happened was when I decided to moonlight so I could buy a car. That was when I met the girl who could not stop laughing.
~ To Be Continued ~
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