We were giving some of the guys a hard time about the way they use their mics at work- some yell into it, some hold it down by their bellies so you can't hear them, and a couple of guys, for some reason, squeeze the hell out of their mics so they make these godawful sounds. Leon is the worst offender by far- he has these huge bulldog hands which are not made for delicacy. So it was ironic that he was the one razzing John about his mic etiquette.
"You sound like that space alien in that movie, what's it called there, you know . . . " and he put his fingers up to his mouth and wiggled them in the universal sign language for Predator.
"Yeah, Predator." Then he clucks his tongue in a fair approximation of the predator's vocalizations. We all laugh.
"I love that movie," I say.
"Yeah it's wild. He could imitate whoever he heard. Perfectly! And he could make himself invisible!"
"No shit!" said John, clearly impressed.
"But he was a trophy hunter that sunuvabitch. Took their heads. The first time I seen him there he was hunting Arnold Schwarzenegger."
"If it bleeds, we can kill it," I say in my best Arnie voice.
"Yeah! And then the next time I seen him there, he was hunting drug dealers. But the last time I seen him, he was hunting that alien from that other movie, what the hell was it called there . . . "
"Alien!" I say.
"Yeah, Alien!"