Breakin’ Out

Abstract

“I hoboed that freight all the way to the Rio Grande Valley where they grow oranges, grapefruit, and such, and I got a job pickin’ oranges for forty cents a day. Most of the folks that worked in the orchards was short little Mexicans, and at six-foot-six I could reach a lot higher up in the trees and pick the oranges that they couldn’t get. Pretty soon I was in big demand around there. The livin’ conditions wasn’t that great—we slept in an of warehouse that stunk to high heaven ‘cause of all the smelly bodies—but at least I was makin’ a little money.