Dances and Rhythms - 6

Dances and Rhythms - 6

     Both of my parents were born in the early 1900's.  Hungry for stories related to my parent's early life, I asked my father how he got into Westinghouse Electric, as we waited for his doctor to call in his prescription.  "Your mother's brother, Henry and I left West Virginia for Pittsburgh to find work.  If they took you on as an office boy and you stuck around without getting into too much trouble, they made you an apprentice and taught you a trade."  My father scratched the top of his head, his long fingernails slicing through the fine crown hairs I used to refer to as, "six hairs on top." "So that's how you became a tool designer," I asked? "Yeah."  Dad went on. "George Westinghouse patented many inventions, which included the railroad air brake and alternating current.  To manufacture them, he opened dozens of plants which demanded thousands of workers.  I was one of them." Dad picked some fuzz off his olive-green work pants as he spoke, unconscious of the sizable holes in the elbows of his gray wool sweater.  I loved the look of him.  He paused as though thinking deeply.  "Anyway, Henry and I stood outside the plant waiting to be called, when a foremen walked up."  "We'll hire you right away - he says.  Next I tell him I have to ask my mother.  He goes - we're not hiring your mother boy, we're hiring you."  Laughter. "What did you say," I asked?  "I took the job," Dad replied laughing out loud.  It was uncharacteristic of him to be so animated.  We had seldom conversed over the years.  This made it difficult to really know my father.  Dad played with the gold signet ring on the large knuckled middle finger of his right hand.  He'd worn it for as long as I could remember. "Was Uncle Henry hired too?" "Yeah," he responded.  I determined to ask him about grammar school....