LARRY THE HOMELESS GUY

I and my family have a deep connection to the oil fields and the supporting industries. That's why all the hoopla around the LANDMAN series with Billy Bob Thornton stirred my memories. 
After the birth of Rebecca, while I was waiting for a position to open up in the Church of the Nazarene, I felt a surge of ambition and decided to go to work for a centerless grinding outfit in Compton. Yes, that Compton, where the SLA was burned alive rather than surrender. 
The centerless grinding ties in because what we worked on were huge stainless steel? Pipes which must have been used in the oil industry. See how that ties in? 
The story revolves around Larry, the homeless guy who lived in a box behind the plant. I was hired to be the supervisor of a two-man crew on second shift which included the boss's son who was pretty young. Part of this assignment included supervising Larry the homeless guy who swept the floors and did miscellaneous chores so that he could use the bathroom inside the plant. 
Larry came in one day and asked if he could borrow the bolt cutters. 
I said yes, only because I knew where Larry lived, in a box behind the plant. His story was that he had locked and lost the key to his motorscooter. 
About an hour later, Larry came running back with the bolt cutters and said thank you very much and took off. We kept working. 
About an hour after that, the Compton police drove by in the back, and roll down their window, and I went out, and they asked had I seen Larry? I said I did but he left in a hurry. Policeman said he had a pair of bolt cutters and was trying to cut into a liquor store. I didn't say anything but I just looked at him quizzically. 
The next day when I came to work the box behind the plant was gone. Larry had moved his home to a new location. But a half full bottle of liquor still stood on the edge of the dumpster. The next day the liquor bottle was gone. 
Thank you for listening. Stay tuned. The following is a picture of Lynne, Rebecca, and myself as we traveled from California to North Dakota shortly after my 2 months stint in Compton and my previous year and a half as an associate of youth in Fullerton Church of the Nazarene California. 

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