Dan Snowden, our Second level boss, received the Vale award for heroism in the garage of said building. He saw an Elephant care taker at the San Diego zoo being knocked down by one of the elephants in a side yard. He leaped over a cement wall, then yelled and swung a tree branch at it to make it back off. Dan suspended me twice. My first suspension was the baby pigeon incident. I copped a key to the last door on the top floor to get onto the roof. The roof borders had big curved tiles as finishing crown trim. Underneath, hundreds of pigeon nests. Some of the chicks fell onto the tarred roof. I find one that’s just getting its feathers. I take it to our lunch room on the second floor, buy a burrito from one of those sliding door deals. Put the chick in the empty spot. Closed the glass door. The gals from accounting went out of their minds until it came around again. I thought I was away clean…caught on video…three days off…My second suspension? I arrive at 3636 early. Across the street was a Mexican joint management got blasted in everyday after work. These guys were putting down new black top for the parking area. They had signs that said, ‘Closed, parking on 3rd street’. I slid one off their black top trailer, then, took it across the street to the main, 3636 parking lot. I then slid the fifteen foot, wheeled chain link gate shut. I whistled a merry tune as I hit the up button to coin box….Dan Snowden watched the entire caper from his office window, right above the gate…Just before I die, I’ll tell the Eugene Smith story. The day of the national strike slugfest at 3636 Beverly. 1969. I was seventeen. After that day, I was a phone man for life…
