When I was a laborer in 1962 I was working in Livermore, California
It was 110 degrees in the shade and no shade
We had just finished the first section of the housing tract
I had a Jeep with a trailer to pick up 20–30 feet of foundation forms
And haul them to the next site
I pulled up next to a house already built
I was there for a while I had a load on the trailer
A man came out of the house
He saw me standing with the sweat flowing down my face
He invited me in his kitchen
He gave me an Olympia beer right out of the freezer
I tilted the little bottle all the way up, it drained in two seconds
He gave me another Oly
I drove off with the biggest smile on my face
And the Oly between my legs
I was the happiest laborer at work that day
By the way . . . I don’t drink