6AM sharp and Day One of your new construction job begins. In your life you have known only sedentary jobs, with little or no physical demand. Now times have changed. Money is harder to come by. A friend of a friend of your dad knew someone...and here you are. The men here are tough. Big, hairy, stocky bastards with thick hairy forearms, tattoos and tan workboots. Hardhats and flannel. Cigarettes and profanity. A big step down, yet strangely exciting. Your name is called! Yes, you say...here I am. Fish! a bear of a man shouts. New Meat! exclaims another. A meaty paw slaps the back of your head, knocking your ill fitting hardhat to the ground. These burly men with their tool belts let out hearty guffaws as you're shoved around like a ragdoll. You nervously try to laugh it off.
One of the brutes-big, bearded, pot bellied and clad in an ocean of flannel- steps forward. A stubby cigar hanging from his mouth, he jabs a fat finger into your chest, launching you two steps backwards. I found me a new coffee bitch, he proclaims. These beasts all laugh loudly as your pathetic body exudes humiliation. Then...all of a sudden...the men part way and another kind of beast steps through. A human muscle machine, with blue flannel stretched agonizingly across his freakishly huge torso, dark blue Dickies hugging every inch of his tree trunk thighs. The letters BRANCH stenciled across the side of his hardhat. Leave the kid alone, he says authoritatively. He'll be working with me...
