Something in that. I used to have to interview many guards in the prison system about various inmates. I always asked what their “regular” occupation was. It was always some kind of trade that was subject to economic influence. In that part of the state where prisons were pretty thickly distributed, prison guard was always the reliable occupation of last resort when the bottom fell out of whatever else you were doing.
They will conclude that the amount of Metabo-Lie they were using was simply too little for good effect for people of their size and will buy a second case to make sure.
Oh, they’re on their way alright. They’ll start up okay. And then will come the first actual grade. Burl will trip on a root and pull his imaginary muscle. Jerry, who stopped three times already to catch his breathe, will remember that before going to great elevation, one should spend days accommodating to the thin air and will suggest they’ve done enough accommodating for one day. Dale, relieved that he won’t face starvation or be forced to beg catsup cups from the others because the Food Stuffs bags would, he was certain, be empty long before they reached half way, was on his way back down before Jerry finished talking. In Burl’s later account of the day, he was gravely injured in a climbing accident, and the others wouldn’t even carry his pack for him. He was lucky they others didn’t just step over his body, like those people who die on Everest. He how has the task of calling in injured to work for a week. Jerry will get Verla to massage the cramps from his legs, and we all know that will lead into territory best left unexplored.
Double absinthe and ice water for this man.