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    > You operated/owned an arcade?   
      
   Yup, in my lasy year of hitchiking (age 17) I woulnd up near ther Sault, at   
   Hemlo Mines, looking for miniong labourer work, but they were only giving    
   the jobsd to union guys bused in from NY state at the time.   
      
   A nice young lady front gate 'guard' drove me into Nipigon so I'd have a   
   decent place to hitch from to continue my journey back west.   
      
   20 minutes later, I hear honking & she's leaning out he passenger window   
   screaming my name.  Her mother(driving) pulled in front of me & began    
   backing up.   
      
   I caught up only to be told that the daughter tyold her mom my story & her    
   mom was appalled I was left out in the cold, so they brought me home, fed    
   me, & washed/dried my smelly hobo clothes.   
      
   Dad was out of town on a business trip, so I guess I was male   
   company/security, as the older brother had just moved out on his own    
   earlier that year.   
      
   Dad returned home a few days later & wasn't overjhoyed that a homeless teen   
   bum from BC hasd been given a home in the basement & fed regularly, but as    
   all husbands do eventually, he came around to the Mom's charitable way of   
   thinking, & agreed to help me find a job & home.   
      
   He beganm by giving me a job azrt his arcade from 4pm-midnight, as his dad    
   did the day shift, & he'd come in after his time at his main job/business    
   to take over at 4 (yup, he was ever so excited every day to do that second   
   shift, so here was my opportunity)   
      
   I did this for a few months, using my pay to pay for a weekly hotel room    
   down the road; the mom provided me meals(supper; I used the till to send a    
   kid to the cafe to get my lunch (in exchange for a free game of poool or    
   two, depending on negotiations) every day.   
      
   Then he came o me to say the day shft was too much for his elderllyt dad,   
   really, & would I like to take over the arcade completely, as he had his    
   hands full with his other business.   
      
   So the poool hall cum arcade was miine! I took over the contracts with the   
   video games company, snack suppliers, & landlord.   
      
   After paying for my hotel room, I had about the a,me amount of money left    
   over each m,ontgh as previous, but now I worked 12h00-00h00, plus an hour    
   of cleaning, instead of 16h00-00h00+cleaning.  Hmmm. . . *LOL*   
      
   By December, t hough, I'd run afoul of some local issues, & basically    
   ensured the top local meathead(far more popular than the kid from out of    
   town) was likely going to prison (3rd strike) & word ca,e down the poike    
   that he was lertting it be known thart if he's going down anyway, a near    
   fatal beating on his rexord won't do any extra harm, so I reverted the    
   arcade back to the original owner, apologetically, & got a bus ticket back    
   to BC.   
      
   I was a twiggy thing, & not up to a fight with a veritable psychotically    
   angry monster, so I did the prudent thing & fled.   
      
   My one winter in -40(24/7) temps & I was cured. Now I stay here in the   
   Canadian tropics!  'cause the rest of y'all live "beyond Hope" (the snow    
   line; from here east there's guaranteed to be snow every winter!); Hope is    
   a wee town that lies just west of the Cascade Mountains; They separate    
   western BC from the Interior.   
      
      
   Your friend,   
      
   <+]:{)}   
   Cyberpope, Bishop of ROM   
   --- SBBSecho 3.14-Linux   
    * Origin: The Rusty MailBox - Penticton, BC Canada (1:153/757.2)   
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