Unorthodox Angles/Andrew Gramling
Finding Connections: When Worlds Combine
It’s my belief that nothing happens by accident, and as I get older, I see how things fit together more cohesively. The interesting part is how we sometimes play the role so well without even knowing it. It’s like the experience of speaking to someone about something you know about, but as you are speaking, you actually say things you didn’t prepare to say, yet are true and accurate. It’s like something much larger than you possessed you in just that moment. What that source is, I can’t explain, nor can I tap into it at will, but I suppose it finds a way into expression whenever it is necessary.
In early 2020, before all the chaos began, I stopped by my Uncle Chris’ house in Milwaukee for a reason I can no longer remember, and on my way out, I saw my cousin Tom packing his car. I hadn’t seen Tom in at least a couple years because he lived out of state and can’t always come back for the holidays. He told me he was about to head back home and that he’d be back again in the summer.
“Alright. We’ll see what’s going on this summer,” I said, completely unaware of the true depth of what I just said.
In the summer of 2020, during a funeral of one of my relatives, Tom indeed showed up as he said, and he was wearing an Amazon driver’s uniform. We were in a small group within the larger group, and he started explaining to us how he just started a delivery company that had a contract with Amazon and he was in need of drivers. Like most people on earth, I could use more money, plus the opportunity to help a family member was appealing, so I began asking about it. They were delivering in Milwaukee, which was far away, but it would offer me a change of environment.
Tom agreed to sign me on, and within a few weeks, I completed my driver safety training at their facility in Sussex. I said to Tom earlier in the year, “Well see what’s going on this summer,” not knowing that I was going to become one of his employees at that time.
For about four months we delivered in areas all around Milwaukee. There were mixed opinions about driving there, though. Some people liked it, and some people didn’t. I never had a problem, except one time I saw a young woman and a man face off in the street and I thought I was going to have to step in and risk getting shot by one of the spectators, but the young woman was kicking his butt, so I just let them keep going.
Another time someone across a busy street kept giving me the finger, but I just kept waving at them. When you show someone you’re not fazed by what they got, it takes all the sting out of the attack. One of my coworkers arrived at one of his stops where a man was in a car bleeding from a gunshot wound, and another coworker said they saw some guys going into an apartment with assault rifles. There were also reports of Amazon delivery vans getting carjacked, or vanjacked. All this news put my observational skills to the test. I was aware of what was going on, on every block at all times. I’ve got a sixth sense for danger, but it never went off once no matter who was around. Maybe I’d finally balanced my karma, but probably not. I was one of the people who was fine delivering there.
With approximately 229,227 housing units in the city, it was a surprise then that towards the end of our work in Milwaukee, I ended up delivering a package to someone who was my next door neighbor in Madison for several years. His name was Josh. We grew up together. Besides all the fun things that kids do like play video games and play tag, we got handcuffed together twice for trespassing in the same place, like idiots. He was also responsible for my first drug experience.
It was the very last day of freshman year at West High School. Another friend with the name Josh and his buddy Kyle invited me downtown to The Loft to a dance that was going on. For some reason I wasn’t feeling like I belonged, so I took off on my own and started walking down State Street by myself. I didn't know why I did that. Just followed impulse. Then I ran into the other Josh who was walking with a few of his friends. Growing up, Josh wore glasses and kept to himself a lot and was a bit socially awkward, not that the rest of us in our group weren’t at all. By now, he was in full grunge/alternative mode which was prevalent in high schools during this time.
“Andrew! What are you doing here?” he asked.
“I’m just walking,” I replied.
“Here, follow us,” he said.
They led me to a dark back alley. I had no idea what was going on. Then one of them named Shannon asked me, “Have you ever smoked weed before?”
“No.”
“Where the **** have you been???” asked the only girl present named Carla.
“No, I wasn’t trying to get on him about it,” said Shannon.
Now it was completely obvious what was going on. I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t know what it was going to do to me, but I didn’t have the sense to say no, so I went along with the crowd, even though it was an alternative crowd.
It didn’t really affect me too strongly, and I pretended to be more messed up than I really was, but that one experience set me up for an entire timeline in the netherworld. I learned plenty during those years, but at a great psychological cost that I almost couldn’t afford to pay. That could be an entire novel by itself.
Josh and his younger brother named Jared both went missing from the scene for over ten years, and I was glad I ran into Josh here in such an unexpected place to finally solve the old mystery. Josh was married now and had cleaned himself up totally. It was good to see. Unfortunately, it seemed his brother didn’t go that same direction, from what he described. We exchanged numbers, and I continued on with my deliveries for the night.
In early 2021, one of the other delivery companies that worked out of the same warehouse as us was reprimanded for making too many mistakes, so they were reassigned. They were sent to Milwaukee because most people didn’t want to be there, and we were given their place out in the areas surrounding Milwaukee. Before my first shift out there, my coworkers were complaining on our group app. about how dark the roads were at night, and how they didn’t feel safe out there. I remembered while doing door to door sales a few years earlier being dropped off by myself in some remote areas without any street lights that reminded me of a horror movie, like Resident Evil or Friday the 13th, so I knew I was gonna like this new assignment.
Next issue: The switch to rural
