L. J. Packard

by James C. McNeill
copyright © 2000

L.J. Packard was another one. (L.J. Packard wasn’t his real name, either.) He also had only initials for a name, and he liked to come in and pass the time, talking to us about himself, trying to get us to like him and pay him a little respect. We did neither.

He always to talk down smokers, although he always smelled of cigarettes himself, and I still recall the day I found a strange tool in the driveway. Don and I were discussing what it might be when L.J. came in to give his expert diagnosis.

"That’s a burnishing tool, boys," he told us. "They use ‘em up to Hill on the flight line. If a plane gets a scratch on the wing, you take Mister burnishing tool, and a can of oil, and burnish the scratch out, else it’ll turn into a crack, and that just wouldn’t do."

He proceeded to instruct us in how to use a burnishing tool, if indeed that’s what the mystery tool was, for an hour and a half or so. We couldn’t have cared less, but you can’t be rude to the customers, even if they are pests. L.J. did buy something once in a while, after all.

Just in case you think I’m down on black folks, I must tell you L.J. Packard was white.

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