FOOD FROM TRASH
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Bob and Sudden, who work for Phil Cobb’s garbage company, are plagued by alcoholism and itchy, red forearms. It seems that something about garbage in general drives the spirit out of men and that something toxic in Phil’s garbage dump is slowly poisoning the community around it–though the effects on the workers and their families are so gradual that they don’t recognize the damage until it’s too late.
At the local diner and on the garbage route Bob dreams of breaking out of his dead-end job and taking up a career in electronics. Sudden would go somewhere too, if only he could afford the parts to fix his Chevy. His wife pops pills to lose weight and pleads for his love, their precocious foster daughter Lomar is bent on seducing all the men in the neighborhood, and their son is losing his hair, a side effect of living near the dump. Sarge, a third garbageman, adds even more conflict. Three months ago he was hurt in an accident caused by a faulty garbage truck and for reasons that are unclear went to jail. Within days of his return to Phil’s dump he dies, of either a heart attack or some garbage-related ailment.
