The garbage dump was huge. You could smell it from a mile away. They drove through a gate in a big chain-link fence. Jodie wondered why there was a fence. Who steals garbage?
Seagulls flew all over the dump. They screamed, cawed and fought, in the air and on the ground. They found stuff to eat at the garbage dump. The fence couldn't keep them away.
Jodie and her Daddy got off and watched Big Al drive the truck to the top of the garbage heap.
Big Al got out, took the cigar butt out of his mouth and yelled, "Hey Jodie! C'mon up here! How'd you like to dump garbage today?"
Jodie got to sit in the driver's seat. Big Al showed her which buttons to push. The back of the truck rose until the garbage spilled out. Jodie pulled the cord to honk the horn. Seagulls flew away screaming.
When the truck was empty, Big Al took over. He and Jodie drove down the garbage heap again. Jodie and her Dad rode in the front with him on the way back to town. Jodie was tired but happy.
"Now comes the best part of the job, Jodie. While almost everyone else is still working, I get to go home, clean myself up, give your mother a big kiss…and then I get to come pick you up at school every ding-dong day. That's mainly why I like being a garbageman so much."
Jodie gave her dirty, smelly garbageman daddy a big kiss. She said, "When I grow up, I want to be a garbageman too. Just like you and Big Al."
Jodie's Daddy said, "There's plenty of time to decide, Jodie. We can talk about it later."
Big Al took the cigar out of his mouth. "You're a nice little girl, Jodie. I wish I had a daughter like you." When they got back to the depot, Jodie gave him a kiss too.
Whenever someone asks Jodie what her Daddy does for a living, she says, "He's a garbageman!" And if they say "Ew!" she says, "Everybody makes garbage, but my Daddy takes it all away."