Blood Money - Mastro Muse 2006

Mastro Muse © 2006

The left arm's twenty-five dollars and the right's forty, not because one's special, just because it works out that way with the days of the week you go and how many times you can get stuck with a needle as fat as a tube in the same exact spot, and don't try to go to any other center. They mark your left index-finger cuticle with invisible ink that shows up under black light.

You're told to eat a big meal before and sometimes you lie. They jab your finger, take your blood pressure, weight, temperature, and everything has to check out within certain parameters, even your iron level.

Last Friday they told a guy he couldn't donate because of something wrong with his sample and you could see in his face, how much that twenty-five or forty would've meant. He was definitely pay-checking to pay-check.

Getting job interviews in the beginning is rough, but eventually you learn how to fudge your resume and eventually get callbacks. Then you get the interview maybe, then you have to go in. It's hard to know where to look. A woman said between their eyes on the forehead and they'll think it's good eye-contact. You don't want to stare them down or always at the floor.

One interview for groundskeeper, they asked, "What was the last book you read?" They got a list for that one. Another was, swear to God, "If you were an animal, which animal would you be and why?" Took some thinking, but eventually came around to Coyote, because of the interaction with them and the dogs lately.

You can't eat, sleep, close your eyes, lift your knees, or use a cell phone when you go in.