Summer Arizona Heat

Old Town In The Arizona Desert


Tucson, Arizona
1974

I liked working around all the literature books, but everybody in the
English Department smoked, and that made the job dirty. I made the
best of it, though. After all, I had finally landed a full time
university custodian job. Sweeping up in Arizona was different than
sweeping up in Michigan. There was no end to the dust. You didn't just
sweep up the dirt; you sent it air-born. The worst thing about the
job, though, was the wage. Arizona didn't have unions. At $2.50 per
hour, I made a whole dollar per hour less than when I had worked back
at CMU, and with no seniority there was no job security. But, hey, the
weather was good!

After I had been living in Tucson for a couple of months, C.S. wanted
to get back together. She came to Tucson, and after a week, we were a
loving couple. At first, we were pretty happy, but she hated Tucson.
Well, to put it more accurately, she hated the heat and the dust of
Arizona. Growing up in Michigan made living the Arizona lifestyle
difficult. I sympathized with her, but, after all my anticipation, I
wasn't quite ready to give up my job. When the summer heat started up
(it was like living in Michigan in the winter, you only went outside when you
had to), I agreed to move to Deadwood, South Dakota. Both Denny and
Jerry, C.S.'s brothers, lived there, and they assured me that the gold
mine up in Lead was hiring. If the Black Hills weren't so damn nice,
C.S. never could have talked me into leaving, but, having spent time
there, I just couldn't refuse her request, and besides, my university
job, with no job security, could be gone in a puff of smoke tomorrow,
so we packed up and headed out in Denise's van, all three of us. Mike
stayed behind. He had to look for another place to live after the rent
came due.