Inktober 14: #Castle

In which a prodigy of demolition does his thing

I worked a couple of summers at a remodeling company called #Castle Builders in Warner Robins. Not having any construction skills, I was usually on the demolition crew with a couple of other teenage boys who were similarly unskilled. Actually, I take that back. I was unskilled. Eduardo was unskilled. But the third member of the team was an absolute prodigy of demolition. His name was either Milo or Buddy. (If you called him Milo he’d say call him Buddy. If you called him Buddy, he’d say call him Milo.) Buddy/Milo could demolish anything. In fact, he was forever demolishing stuff whether he was on the clock or not. 

One time the boss left Buddy/Milo demolishing a small bathroom while he went to Warner Robins Supply; by the time he got back, Buddy/Milo had finished demolishing the bathroom and had demolished part of the adjacent bedroom, which wasn’t supposed to be demolished. The boss said Buddy could break a bowling ball. Buddy took it as a compliment, though I’m not sure the boss meant it that way.

Anyway, one lunch break Eduardo and I were throwing rocks at the dump truck we used to drive demolition debris to the dump. Really I should say that we were throwing rocks toward the dump truck because it was so far away that neither of us could even come close to hitting it. Even if we could have hit the truck, it would make no difference. That poor truck was an absolute ruin, thanks to Buddy, who was no longer allowed to drive it. Besides various dents and contusions, the passenger-side mirror was completely gone, so if you wanted to change lanes or merge to the right, you just had to turn on the blinker and hope everybody got out of the way. Thankfully there was a driver-side mirror. Otherwise, the driver would be completely blind to what was happening behind (which would pretty important if, for instance, one wanted to dump stuff). 

So Eduardo and I were trying to see who could get closest to the dump truck, and it was kind of pitiful, because the rocks were falling half a football field short. Then Buddy/Milo came along and saw what we were doing. He picked up a rock and heaved it. It traveled a great sailing arc, farther–much farther–than any thrown by Eduardo or me, and shattered the one remaining mirror on the dump truck.

#inktober2023

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