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Date Posted: 20:52:57 05/07/02 Tue
Author: Rita
Subject: My Friend Chan

Instant Insanity Page 1 of 4
Chapter 10 Words: 930
My Friend (Charlie) Chan


Chan and I worked together in a jewelry shop since 1984. She was manager and I was bookkeeper until 1994. Chan, too, had gone to Crittenton Hospital in 1994. Chan had a breast tumor biopsy, and she also had blood tests done. I showed her my husband’s 1994 blood test that had a laboratory figure 10 times higher than what the normal figure should have been. Hubby’s abnormal blood cells were not flagged as abnormal because of the blood tests laboratory increased figures, and two years later, Hubby had common bacterial-infection attack his heart.
In 1994, I was laid off and Chan had taken over as bookkeeper/manager. Two years later, Chan also had been laid off, and she had moved to Lake Orion a few miles from me. Our conversation subject changed from blood tests to the jewelry business. Even though Chan wasn’t working for the jewelry company, I asked about the owner, “How is Dennis doing?”
He had gone to Costa Rica, returned, and was in Providence doing a jewelry show. Chan then wished to know why I asked?
I had stopped at the jewelry shop to throw some things into his dumpster. From the looks of what was inside, I was wondering if he was moving. The five-foot-tall dumpster was half filled with the 10”x14”x3” white boxes, and many of the boxes were filled with earrings galore. There were a couple hundred earrings in each box. I couldn’t believe my eyes.
As I was pulling out a few boxes, a long metal strip sitting on top had fell. It made a loud clink as it hit the pavement, and rolled into a water puddle. A scavenger from the local bar heard it and came running over. “Hi,” the stranger said, “I heard aluminum hit the pavement. I collect certain metals.”
Shrugging my shoulders, I said, “Help yourself. I’m only collecting earrings. I think this company must be moving. I can’t believe they threw all this stuff away. They usually do throw some out, but I’m in awe at what I see here. This looks like stuff that I used to pay money for.”
The slender, dark-haired scavenger climbed up the dumpster. He handed me the earring boxes, while he looked for metal scraps. I filled my trunk and was loading the back seat, when he said, “This is a big dumpster. I’m going to have to climb inside to really look around.”
“Go head,” I replied.
The scavenger rummaged to the bottom, pulling up several bags of large circle disk metals, saying, “I want these.”
“Okay,” I said, pulling a box from the dumpster side, asking, “Did you want a box to carry the metal in? Sometimes the plastic bags break. Personally, I wouldn’t know what to do with the metal.”
I placed the box on dry ground for the stranger. Then returned for more items for me. Again, he found another earring box and handed it to me. It was covered with wet, red paint. “Oh,” I cringed, saying, “You’re into the garbage and yucky now. I’m not going to want anymore earrings.” I placed the last box on my car hood and began throwing the smeared garbage items back into the dumpster.
“Yeah,” the scavenger nodded, adding, “I don’t think I’m going to find any more metal. Now, all I have to do is get out of here.”
I watched the stranger struggle to pull himself out of the dumpster; I commented, “I’m so short that if I climbed inside, I couldn’t get out without a ladder.” I proceeded to get into my car and left.
Chan thought, and then replied, “That’s funny. I like that story. I’ll have to tell Dennis that. Joanne is still working for him, and she does throw out a lot. When was this?”
“No,” I shook my head. “It looked to me like the backroom. Let me think. What’s today?” Using my fingers to count, I also wiggled my toes. My boots were still damp. The deep thought ended with: “Two days ago. That reminds me what good are earrings with no backs? Could you get me a bag of earring backs from Dennis? I still have the earrings in the trunk. I’ll have to hide them. You know my Hubby. He’s always saying that I bring home more junk than what I throw away. D-u-h, this time, he’s right.”
“I want to see them,” Chan blurted, as she put on her shoes and coat. We walked outside to my car. I opened the trunk. Chan began examining the items and saying: “You should show Dennis this.” Apparently there were about 2500 metal earring items that looked pretty good.
“He’s not my friend,” I shockingly snapped. I flashed a memory aid: “Dennis is your friend. You should tell him. Forget I said a thing. We can empty my truck and put all this stuff inside your apartment. Then you can play ‘show and tell’, while returning the items to Dennis.”
Chan huffed: “I don’t want this stuff in my apartment. It’s your find. You keep it! Yeah, maybe you and that other guy can work as a scavenger team!” She then ran back inside to eat her now cold pizza.
As I shut my trunk, I said, “Bye!” My thoughts, too, turned to food.
I stopped at the local fast food Arby to pick up five roast beef sandwiches for dinner. It was about 4 p.m., so they weren’t busy. I worked at the motel and had to be there in an hour.

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