I
had an apartment and I rented a car until Chuck and Tommy brought my
car down from Memphis. Next came a job which brought up questions. It
had been a decade since I waited tables and I had a fleeting thought
that I might not want to do that again. There was also the question of
my ego--could I go back to being bossed by someone else, especially in
the restaurant business where 'servers are a dime a dozen' was the
attitudes of most owners/managers? I had some money so I could relax a
bit, go out drinking as I was doing more frequently . I was lucky
in the sense that I was still getting settlement checks from Bernie
which would take care of all necessities. Tommy and Chuck were due to
come down around August 27 so I figured I might as well wait until after
they left to go job hunting. Meanwhile I was going over to Flo and
Ritchie's place having dinner most night. I've written about Flo in one
of the other chapters but justareminder--she was the first person
whoever showed me unconditional love. Of course she was bugging me to
get a job yet yelling at Ritchie if he said anything-- that was my Flo!

On
November 21, 1979, I started work at a new restaurant called
"Incredible Edibles" that was opened by two guys with their wives
helping now and then. I was the only server also, sometimes doubling as
cashier. There opening the week of Thanksgiving, and planning to be
closed that day, sort of didn't sit right with me but the job did offer
me a chance to get back in the swing of things and it was like that old
saying about 'riding a bike'--it was as if I never stopped working as a
waiter. I found I still loved doing it as aggravating a job as it could
be. It took awhile before business picked up as they were sort of off
the beaten path in a small shopping center. The owners were nice to work
for and I was sort of pleased that they listened to some ideas I had. 
In February they got a 5 star review in the Fort Lauderdale paper but
they were having cash flow problems and I was wondering if they would
make it. I came to work on March 11, 1980,tofind the place closed. They
had left town owing me 2 weeks of wages--granted it wasn't much as, if I
remember right, pay at that time for servers was $2.03 an hour! This by
the way is not remarkable in South Florida where restaurants open and
close with regularity.

Hey,
I worked 3 months and it was time for a vacation! I spent three weeks
drinking, going to the beach, playing tourist and then went to work at
The Fisherman's Wharf on 441 on March 26, 1980, when I was 11 years old
having celebrated my Leap Year birthday at the Sandpiper, but more about
that later. Meanwhile I was busy making friends, having sex and getting
drunk. In the picture on top there are a dozen guys who became my new
family. The red badge I am wearing is my birthday badge.

Life
was good. I had settled into my new old life--waiting tables, partying
every night since I got off work at 10-11PM and didn't have to be there
until 4-5PM the next day. I was smoking 3 packs of cigarettes a day,
drinking almost a bottle of scotch a night and having sex 15-20 times a
month. I was 44, life was good and Memphis was fading away.

******************************************************************

HOW TO SPEAK REPUBLICAN BY PETE KOTZ
"JESUS:
CELEBRATED ANCIENT DEITY WHO PREACHED THAT 'THE POOR SHOULD GET A
DAMNED JOB ALREADY' AND THAT ALL HUMAN SUFFERING COULD BE AVERTED BY
SIMPLE LOWERING THE CAPITAL GAINS TAX."