Waterboys Have Their Troubles, Too (Cont.)
Screen 4 of 4"Oh, don't worry about that," he added, trying to console me. "You are covered by workman's compensation."
When he realized I didn't know what that meant, he explained that I would receive some pay--he didn't know how much--as reimbursement for my loss of pay due to the accident. Taking some comfort in this news, I went home, told my mother what had happened and then waited impatiently for two weeks before the doctor said I could go back to work.
Upon returning to the job, I asked the boss about the workman's compensation. His brief answer was, "Those things take time," and I did not pursue the matter any further.
After working just three days more and being careful to carry the bucket in my left hand, I resigned my job as water- boy and returned to school. Since I still had not received any money from the workman's compensation board, my mother and I borrowed $25 from the local bank in order to purchase the necessary books and clothes, using a small life insurance policy to support the loan. The cashier at the bank said this policy could serve as "collateral," a new word for me which he explained.
Late in September--almost eight weeks after the accident with the icebox--I received a check along with a brief letter stating that the money being sent was "in compensation for loss of pay from August 2-15, 1923." The amount of the check, my total compensation for that period, was $3.87: I was at first stunned, then heartbroken. How could we possibly repay the $25 loan at the bank? Would we lose that insurance policy the bank was holding? I also wondered if the bank might extend the time of the loan until I could make enough money to pay what we owed.
The news about the very small reimbursement paid to me must have gotten back to the workmen on the campus construction job. For they took up a collection for my benefit. (I was told later that even "Butch," the "turpentine man," gave 50 cents.) And just after their next payday--early in October--those men-- most of them making from 25cents-50cents an hour--sent to me an old envelope containing $19.75 in cash, most of it in quarters and half dollars. Scrawled in pencil on the outside of the envelope were these words: "Good luck, waterboy, to you and Goofus."
Chester C. Travelstead
August 13, 1979
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