The Promise

Kiel Gulick

Alex's Car

 

My first boss was an old slob, round in the middle, with a bald spot the size of a grapefruit on the back of his head. His name was Mike Palermo and the only job I could have seen him in was the one he had, maintenance. He sure-as-hell fit the bill – a real blue-collar kind of guy.

With the smell of his morning beer issuing from his gaping, toothless mouth, he would pontificate from the driver’s seat of the company’s beat-up blue pickup as we made our rounds. I sat in the passenger’s seat, attentive, while he lectured me on the strengths and weaknesses of the Steeler’s offensive line or the difference between Jack Daniels and Jim Beam. He talked to me about his wife and how they didn’t do it enough. He swore that after you got a girl’s bra off for the first time it would never be that good again. “All down hill,” he said. Everyday was educational with Mike.

One afternoon in the truck, he turned to me and said, “Where do you see yourself, kid? I mean, years from now. What do you want to be?”

The question had caught me off guard. “I don’t know.” I said. “I guess I just want to be happy.”

Mike paused for a moment. He stared straight ahead, gripping the wheel. Then he smiled. “Jesus, kid. You’re all right.”

We drove the rest of the afternoon in silence. At the end of the day, we parked in the grass next to the maintenance shed but Mike didn’t make a move to get out of the truck. He just sat there, quiet, the sun beating down on his legs through the windshield, the engine idling.  Then he cleared his throat. “Promise me something, kid.” He put his hand on my shoulder, just like a father. “Promise you won’t turn out like me.”

Kiel Gulick (The Promise) is currently enrolled at Berklee.  He wrote this story in the Summer Fiction Workshop.

Alexander Muri (The Commute) is a photographer and is also currently enrolled at Berklee.  He notes, “Music has played a role in my entire life, but along with performing and learning with friends, I love to express myself through photography. They often go well together–more than one might think!”