Jodie's Daddy Is A Garbageman!

Garbageman!

Funny how you can always tell when somebody's laughing behind your back. Jodie hadn't really heard anything, maybe a whisper, but when she turned around, the girls in the back row of the class were looking at her, trying to hide smiles and giggles. She looked back at her teacher. Mr Swales was talking about what people do all day. He also wanted to find out what his students wanted to be when they grew up. He called on Billy Mitzer first.

"My daddy works in a bank," Billy Mitzer said. "I guess I want to work in a bank too. There's lots of money in the bank."

"My parents have a grocery store," Emmy DiSalvo said. "Papa's behind the counter and Mama keeps the cash register. But I want to be an airline pilot."

Jodie liked it when Mr Swales asked them questions like this. He was about to call on Jodie when the girls in the back row burst out laughing.

Shirley Danes yelled, "Jodie's Daddy is a garbageman! Pee-yoo!"

Everybody in the class laughed out loud. Everybody except Jodie, that is. She felt her face turn bright red. She looked around the whole classroom. Everyone was laughing. Some kids were even holding their noses.

Jodie looked at Mr Swales. He was angry. He almost never raised his voice, but now he did.

"Silence! I want everybody quiet this instant."

The laughter stopped immediately. The sound of cars and people going by out on the street came through the windows. "You should be ashamed of yourselves," Mr Swales said. "Being a garbageman...I mean, er, uhm...a Sanitation Engineer, is a difficult and enormously useful job. We should all be grateful to Mr. Harris. Where would we be without him? Up to our ears in garbage, that's where. How would you like that?"

"Pee-yoo!" somebody said. A few kids started laughing again.

"It's not funny," Mr. Swales went on. "Garbage is a serious matter. I think you all owe Jodie an apology. And after that, you're all going to write Jodie's father, Mr Harris, a nice letter to tell him how much you appreciate what he does for all of us. In other words, keeping our city clean."

< 2 >

Moans and groans. Everyone said "Sorry, Jodie" but Jodie could tell they didn't really mean it. She also knew nobody wanted to write her father a letter. She wished Mr Swales wouldn't make them do it. Her face was burning red and she felt like crying. Mr Swales came to her desk and patted her shoulder. "Let's go out in the hall while everyone's writing those letters so we can have a private talk."

Jodie started crying out in the hall. She didn't want to cry in front of everybody, but she couldn't hold back any more. Mr Swales was tall. He knelt and gave her his handkerchief to blow her nose. "I'm sorry this happened," he said. "But remember, hard work done well is something to be proud of. There's nothing wrong with being a garb...a sanitation engineer, absolutely not."

Jodie's father came to walk her home from school as usual. She didn't run up to him the way she always did. When they were up in their apartment, Jodie went to her little room and cried for a good long time before she did her homework. Her father must've heard her.

He came into her room. "What happened, Jodie? Why are you so sad?"

Jodie didn't want to tell him at first. She was embarrassed and didn't want to hurt her father's feelings. Her father sat on the bed, put his hand on her shoulder. "It's OK, sweetie. You can tell me. You can tell me everything, you know. But you don't have to tell me your secrets, if you don't want to. Is this a secret?"

"It's not a secret. The other kids laughed at me because you're a garbageman. They said your job was dirty and you smelled bad. They said I smelled bad too."

Jodie looked at her father. He didn't seem angry, hurt or sad. His big white teeth gleamed under his walrus moustache. "Well then," he said. "I guess those kids just don't know how much fun it is to be a garbageman."

< 3 >

For some reason, that made Jodie start crying again. Her father hugged her tight. "Tell me honestly, Jodie…do I smell bad?"

Jodie sniffed. "You smell good, like laundry soap."

"Come on, Jodie. You can tell your old garbageman Daddy he stinks."

Jodie smiled too. "I mean it. You smell nice. You always smell nice."

"Your friends at school were right, though. Being a garbageman is a dirty job. Garbage is…filthy. Every day I see stuff so disgusting it'd make your head spin. And man, does it ever stink! But then me and the guys I work with come along, grab the slimy, stinking garbage and throw it in the truck. The truck's a big green monster who growls and gulps nasty garbage. Then everything's nice and clean, the way we like it. And when I get home, I take a long hot shower so I'm clean as the day I was born. I like my job, Jodie. And I like the people I work with, too."

Jodie's mother yelled dinner was ready.

"Tell you what, Jodie. Tomorrow's Saturday, but as you know, sometimes I work on Saturdays. Go to bed extra-early tonight and tomorrow you'll come to work with me. I want you to see what your garbageman daddy does."

Jodie was of two minds as she fell asleep. She was excited her father was going to take her to work, but wasn't sure she wanted to see or touch disgusting, stinking garbage.

Next thing she knew her father opened her window to let morning air into her room. It was still dark outside. Her father picked her up out of bed. "Look Jodie," he whispered. "Most people don't get to see this."

Off in the dark distance, Jodie saw clouds slightly pink underneath.

...