It used to be much nicer

CONVERSATION IN A FOLDING CHAIR, 1991

They come here because he likes to fish. He goes down to the lake early with his cooler. She does it to make him happy. He used to work in the roofing business for his father's company - they used the hot tar: "You know how you see those trucks go by sometimes and there are flames coming out of the side and at first it's startling, but it's just the tar being heated". He was burned pretty badly a few months ago. He's been collecting insurance. Says he doesn't want to go back. She can't blame him. She offered to work but he doesn't want her to. 

"It used to be much nicer" she says, "before they closed the pool. They haven't been keeping it up." She mostly spends her day talking with the 2nd wife of a retired army colonel.