Well, Carl had a kid and a wife name Lola. He liked the band Rat and would listen to the cock-rock station into the late hours of the night. The grease in the air and the denial of shakes were my humble surroundings during my midnight stints at the Jack in the box. Carl was a good guy? He did have a slight rat tail which I thought was a beautiful feature that completed his look. The beer flowed from the back ice chest on those long summer nights. Always the Bud for beer, Carl was an American. He would drink until he was angry and could no longer stand the idea of cooking a burger or dropping some fries into the fryer. He refused to serve shakes at night; I could never figure out why after all I would be the one making them.
Things were simple: arrive at 10pm make about 150 tacos and overstock the shit out of some buttermilk house ranch. I was the food disperser for the overly drunk and coked-up folks of the town. They would share their vises and guidance with me. I was good at the drive through. My efficiency mixed with my fine attention to detail amazed and mystified the alcoholics which I believed were used to having a less than perfect drive through experience. I would hand out ranch dressing like it was candy on Halloween. I managed to satisfy the customers and clean the entire closed dining room area and do all the prep work for the following day. I was a multitasking machine always strapped up to the speaker machine that would beep in my ear as a car pulled up to the glowing sign of burger delight.
Carl had a wife and then he didn't after fornicating with a young short haired teenager in the walk-in cooler. That girl had a kid too.. oh Carl was a double dad. I think back now and wonder how he wasn't fired after said incident. I guess he had already lost his wife and he was a damn good midnight manager. Poor guy worked two full time jobs and carried around a picture of his kid that he would look at while he smoked cigarettes in the break room. Carl used to tell me about the music shows he had gone and seen and all the fun he had as a youngster. I knew a that moment in his life he had no free time and regretted marrying Lola who was a past Jack in the Box sweet heart.
