Bobby's Book

Author:Davidson, Emily [Davidson, Emily]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Emily Davidson, violence, gangs, drugs, photography, Bobby's Book, Bruce Davidson, Brooklyn, New York, poverty, 1950, seven stories press, homelessness, Narcotics Anonymous, Bob Powers, addiction, alcohol
Publisher: Random House Inc Clients
Published: 2012-10-29T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Ten

After Jail, Sally

So I’m out of jail and back with Michelle. I brought all the kids together and we all lived in a one-bedroom apartment down on Kings Highway—we had a living room, dining room, and a bedroom. The two older kids slept in bunk beds inside . . . wow, I think we had all four children in one room, and me and Michelle slept outside on another bed. We were fighting, I was getting drunk before coming home, she was still getting high. She wanted to do her thing, I wanted to do mine. It just didn’t work. It just didn’t work. After six months we had this big fight and I said, “Fucking move out, get out of here.” I was so crazy, I threw her furniture down the stairs and broke everything.

When I came out of jail I drank a lot. I got a job and I wasn’t shooting dope, I wasn’t shooting speed, no sticking a needle in my arm, but I was drinking very heavy. It was a very sad time in my life because I’d always be in the bar. Michelle moved out with Dominick and Keith and I was alone with Carrie and Bob. They would have to come to the bar for me to give them money to eat. I would come home at night, fall asleep, wake up, and go back to work. Pat was in California and outta the picture by this time. She hadn’t gotten in touch or contacted me for five or six years and she was never in touch with the kids until they were teenagers.

I worked at a steam-fitting outfit on Twenty-fifth Street. No matter where I went or what kind of job I worked, I found people that used drugs and I started using again. Everybody there was using or drinking at the time, except for a few of the workers. I was a boss on jobs out in the housing projects and I’d send stoned drug addicts over to Manhattan to get heroin. They’d come back and we’d shoot up. Even though my brother-in-law was the foreman, I would still disappear, get high, and nod out on top of the boilers. They would have to find me.

One day I had these gum sole shoes on and I was sitting up on top of a super heater. They turned the goddamn heater on because they were testing it and me and my shoes melted to the top of the boiler. I could’ve cooked myself nodding out while trying to tighten up a flange. Other times I would be leaning over and fall asleep mixing concrete, just nodding out right on the shovel.

My brother-in-law Herbie, my sister Margie’s husband, always knew what I was doing. Naturally I’d lie to him a hundred times, but he knew. It’s amazing that he gave me so many chances. Herbie always stuck by me. As fucking bad as I was, I always was a very good worker on the job.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.