The Wrong Box
by Melodie
Corrigall
New in town,
Walter was delighted to be one of four locals
invited to give a presentation on what the
facilitator called his “profession” to
the high school graduates. Chadville was
obviously more appreciative of his type of work
than was his former town, where they called a
long haul trucker’s work a “blue collar
job.”
When he’d
filled out the address form for the Welcome Lady,
Walter had explained that he’d retired from
his demanding work because he was no longer alert
enough to do it safely. “If I keep trucking
I’ll put other people’s lives at risk,”
he said and the woman had sung out, “You’ve
picked a great place to retire but don’t
expect us to call you doctor or sir. All first
names here.”
Walter was
fine with that. He certainly wasn’t a doctor
and had never in his life been called sir. But
informal or not, he was pleased someone
recognized the role of the trucker. He would
enjoy explaining the challenges of his work: long,
lonely hours but good money, especially for
someone who’d hardly scraped through grade
12.
“Here
goes,” he thought noting it was his turn to
speak. He pulled his snug sweater over his
expanding waist, and prepared to move to the
podium.
“Last but
not least I’m proud to introduce Dr. Walter
Bangels, who also demonstrates the importance of
a university degree.”
As one who had
never even eaten in a University cafeteria let
alone attended a university, Walter gasped. What
had he said to the Welcome Lady to give her the
impression he was a doctor? In retrospect he
realized he hadn’t actually said he was a
trucker but he surely hadn’t suggested he
was a doctor. His eyes flashed to the program
where his name appeared in neon: Dr. Walter
Bangels. When filling out the form for the
welcome lady, he’d obviously ticked off the
wrong box—Dr. not Mr.—and so she’d
concluded he was a physician.
This could be
a tricky. He’d have to rely on some jokes to
keep the crowd entertained. Thankfully, at the
luncheon earlier, he hadn’t suggested what
the principal should do about his unsightly rash
nor discussed his light hearted approach to open-heart
surgery.
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