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they make their farewells, which
is good with Blaine. His head is throbbing some. He heads to the bedroom for a
nap. 
     When he wakes up everything is dark, and
squinting at the radio clock near the end of the bed he sees it is almost
midnight. He has slept 10 hours and now is wide awake in the middle of the
night. That’s okay with Blaine, though. He likes this time of night. It’s quiet
and peaceful, and the stores are never crowded. Kroger stays open 24 hours, and
he shops late at night occasionally. The only bad thing is that’s when the
stockers stock, and they always have stuff strewn all over, blocking the aisles
where you want to go. 
     He is a writer, but he can’t always make a living
at that, so three or four times every year, or whenever funds start getting low,
he goes to work shutdowns at one of the many plants in his area or down the
coast. Wherever the work is: though he likes to stay close to home if he can. 
     He has pipefitter and boilermaker skills and good
relationships with several companies that work the shutdowns. They are always
looking for help. 
     This is how it goes: These companies are all
making stuff that brings them in a fortune as long as they are running. So they
fix only what they absolutely have to during the year, then shut down the
entire shooting match for 30 to 60 days every 12, 18 months and fix the rest of
the stuff they can’t get while operating. They open up vessels and do
inspections, put new equipment in. Things like that. 
     To minimize the time they are down, they run
crews 24 hours a day until finished. That’s where Blaine comes in. 
     The operators at these plants are specialists in
operations, not boilermaking or pipefitting. Most are good jacklegs; they can
do some of those things, but the plants hire outside companies to come in and
do the heavy stuff. The companies can’t carry enough guys year-round to work shutdowns,
so whenever they have one going they need extra help.   
     The upside is he can make great money in short
periods of time. During the shutdowns the men work 12 hour shifts, six days a
week. Used to be every day until it was over, but OSHA had finally stepped in
and stopped that. Too many accidents and near misses due to fatigue. It still
is a tough schedule to work.   
     The downside is that he is never entirely sure
when these things are going to happen. The companies have so many
interdependencies among themselves and suppliers and the market that they are
like chess players winnowing through the variations to pick the best times.
Blaine would get word on one date then they’d change it. Also, he never knows
whether he will be working day or night. But it really doesn’t matter much. He
can do either one. 
     Some guys go around the country working outages. You
can make enough money in five or six months to last the year, even though you don’t
have the benefits. 
     The company can be a bit rough, the work hard and
demanding and physical, and there is a very real element of danger. The vessels
and reactors they get into are receptacles for some very dangerous chemicals: cyanide,
ammonia, various acids and such, and if they are not decontaminated correctly
that stuff can still be inside, or in the connecting pipes. Also, the situation
being what it is, there are always guys working who are new at what they do, or
just not very good at it. And the workers at the plants tend to treat the
contract workers as second-class citizens. The contractors usually handle the
dangerous stuff. Not always real pleasant, but it is a way for Blaine to get
some money when he needs some, and has saved him many times from financial woes.
He isn’t complaining. He can make 10 grand from one of these deals then rathole
it. It gives him a measure of control over his destiny without taking too much
bull from an outsider, and some freedom to write, which is what he considers
his real calling, though he hasn’t made much money at it yet. 
     Middle