Friday, November 2, 2007

Gotta Love ‘em

“Everyone makes mistakes,” Fat Paulie says as he looks at a big one on Gerard Avenue. “I should have known better than to pour concrete on Halloween.”

The sidewalk in front of his building is marked with hand prints, initials, a “Joba Rules,” an “I love Derek Jeter,” and, of course, an “I (heart) Derek Jeter.”

“Those wacky kids,” Fat Paulie laughs. “You gotta love ‘em.”

Fat Paulie has worked his whole life in the South Bronx.

“I started cleaning up and bagging trash at a building over on Jerome,” he explains. “They just called me Paulie back then, but that was a bunch of donuts ago.”

Fat Paulie moves a little slower these days, but he still gets the job done.

“A little concrete will smooth out most of this,” he says looking at the sidewalk. “I’ll leave the Joba and Jeter stuff because I don’t want the kids egging my windows.

“You really do gotta love ‘em.”

2 comments:

Pete said...

That’s funny. Do you think he learned his lesson???

Donna said...

That story made me smile. Thanks a bunch.