What They Do All Day

Koala Terkel asks six Providence workers, then gets out of the way.

Koala Terkel was asked to do what the name suggests: ask people what they do all day and how they feel about what they do. The answers are below, cut for length and nothing else. The paper does not print names, so each entry is headed the way the speaker introduced themselves to a stranger — by the job. Koala Terkel's questions have been removed. He says that was the method.

Saturdays in season I come in when the fires are out and the people have gone, and I sweep. Overtime. The ash is fine and grey and it gets into everything. Cups, mostly. Thousands of cups. By seven Sunday morning the river looks like nothing happened, which is the point, and also the problem — nobody sees a thing that looks like nothing happened. The fire is the show. The sweeping is the city. Four hours of sleep. I'm a koala. Ask me how that's going.