James Dean Memorial Junction
Every time we drive between LA and Monterey, we pass through the James Dean Memorial Junction. Located at the junction of State Routes 41 and 46 it is a desolate intersection. It is now marked with a sign commemorating it as the fatal accident site of the actor James Dean, who died in a car crash there in 1955. He was filming the movie Giant, which was supposed to be set in Texas. This part of California’s dry, arid landscape makes for a pretty good Texas stand-in. Dean’s career was riding high when he died. He had received an Academy Best Actor nomination for this role in East of Eden, his first film and he would receive a Best Supporting Actor nomination for his role in Giant, his third film. It is his second movie, Rebel Without a Cause, for which he is most famous and with which, I have taken liberties for this post’s title.
The real rebel that I would like to speak about here isn’t James Dean though. It is Wayne my boss or I should now say my former boss. Today was his last day at work, he has retired. He has always been both knowledgeable and diligent in his work and our company has lost a good one. He has also been a rebel though, fighting ‘the man’ and more importantly fighting for his people. He has fought for me on more than one occasion, for which I shall always be grateful. But before I get too dewy-eyed, like Wayne after one of his retirement speeches, I should mention the bad as well as the good. After all, he is only human and just as foible filled as the rest of us. Besides, he was my boss and if I can’t find one bad thing to say about my boss, then I’m just not working hard enough and Wayne wouldn’t like that either.
He has this one, very annoying question that he likes to repeat again and again. Those of you who know him already know what it is, because he has uttered it to you too. It is doubly annoying, because he does it just to be annoying. Usually, he says it immediately after he has assigned you a new task, with no reasonable expectation of that task having been performed. Still, in the scheme of things this fault is not so bad. He has been a lot of fun to work with. This rebel’s retirement is like a death for us in that we won’t see him daily anymore, but there are other people still waiting to retire, like myself and I’m sure that he could be coaxed back with some cake and coffee. I better cut it off here, before my man-crush become even more fulsome. I know Wayne wouldn’t like that either and he is now beyond the salvation of additional mandatory training.
“Are you done yet?”
“Are you done yet?”
“Are you done yet?”
I am now.