***

As much as Stony dreaded working the construction job, he equally dreaded springing the news on Mrs. Pitt that after two weeks in the hospital he had to take a two-week vacation. Every day he found a different excuse for not telling her, but now he had no more days to put it off.

"Mrs. Pitt." Stony sighed. "I got this hassle I gotta work out. Before I took this job, I promised my old man I'd work with him in construction for two weeks this summer. He was breakin' my chops about me wantin' to do hospital work when I could be makin' triple the bread with the electricians." He shrugged. "So like I promised him I would do two weeks here, two weeks with him, and then I could decide what I was gonna do, you follow?" Stony sat sprawled hand over mouth.

Mrs. Pitt frowned. "I follow. Stony, but I also feel like you're exploiting me. I hire you in good faith on a long-term basis. Then you come in here and tell me you want to do something else for two weeks and maybe you'll come back. That's pretty damn unfair, don't you think?"

Stony's guts started spinning. His hand moved from his mouth to his forehead. "Lissen." He leaned forward in his seat. "You don' understand my family. It's like ... like..." Stony fretted and fumed, searching for the right words. "Shit. Look, there's this very heavy number goin' down with my father and uncle. They're both electricians, right? An' ever since I was a kid, see, you don't ... oh shit." He rubbed his face, eyes darting around the room. "You don't know what I had to go through to get this hospital gig, like, uh, you know, that Jewish thing, my son the doctor?" Stony slapped himself on the chest. "My son the electrician. An' they got me boxed in, Mrs. Pitt. I'm tellin' you, the whole thing with the job, the union, the men, the House a De Coco, it's like puttin' on a goddamn hard hat, it's like puttin' on the crown a England, you know? An' I'm next in line. My grandfather was in there bustin' heads, settin' up the union in the thirties, the whole thing." Stony studied his hands. "I tell you, sometimes I think it woulda been a lot easier if I was a girl. God forbid. I mean, no offense. I had to run a gamut to do this job like you wouldn't believe. I wouldn't be here if I didn't promise my old man I'd do two weeks with him." Stony lowered his voice. "I don' wanna be a goddamn electrician, those guys are nowhere! They get twenty grand a year for luggin' pipes up an' down buildings. I don' care about money, I'll make it some way. I ain't no sap. I get more outta jivin' aroun' with these kids for one hour than I would in ten years doin' construction." He bobbed his head in emphasis. "It's my life we're talkin' about! I don't wanna be one of those lames that lives for the weekend, you know? I wanna live seven days a week. I wanna go home everyday feelin' like I accomplished somethin'. Look, I was gonna go down to this ditso school in Louisiana in the fall, then I figure, screw that, I come outta there a veterinarian's assistant with a concentration in turkey mange, you know? School doesn't mean anything to me, just to go so you can say you went, right?" Stony glanced around the room. "But now I'm thinkin', lemme do this for a year see? Then, maybe this time next year I'll apply to some college, study social work, recreation, physical therapy, who knows? Somethin' so I can keep workin' an' get some kinda degree in somethin' that means somethin', you know? But look, I gotta pay the devil his due. I gotta give my old man his two weeks, then I got him off my back, he can't say nothin'." Stony signaled finito with his hands. "I fulfilled my end an' that's that, I'm free as a bird." He sat back in the chair, his hands clasped in his lap, a whatta-you-say look in his eyes.