So my story essentially is I wanted to work at the zoo and I would see summer helpers at the zoo and I would go, “How do you get that job?” Well, Chicago’s a very political city at the time, probably still is. And I would, we would always talk to our precinct captain and the precinct captain would go, “I’m gonna try and get your kid a job.” My mother was very pragmatic and she’d say, “Look for another job.” And I’d say, “Well, but they’re gonna try and get me a job at the zoo.” “No, just look for another job.” And ultimately, I wouldn’t get the job and I would have to get another summer job just to make money. Finally, I said to my mother, after two summers, I said, “Don’t we know anybody?” And she said, “Well, you might wanna talk to your cousin.” And I said, “Well, but he won’t know who I am.” And she said, “He’ll know you’re my son, but you have to talk to him,” which was, I think a good motherly thing to do. You gotta stand on your own two feet. Yeah. So I went to my cousin as I affectionately call him the godfather and I told him and I said, I said, “I want,” I was in his office. I said, “I wanna get a job at Lincoln Park Zoo in the summer.” And he looked at me and he said, “Well, if you need summer money, you can work for me in my business.” And I said, “No, I wanna work at the zoo with the animals.” And he goes, “Why is a Jewish kid wanna work at the zoo?” He said, “Okay.” And he picks up the phone and the phone call was in three parts, it was, “How you doing?” Always good to talk with you. Listen, my cousin wants to work at the zoo, I don’t know why.” And, “Your wife should call my wife.
