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September 21, 2023: The First Snow

This evening, after distributing books, Pete and I went to the Mexican restaurant for dinner. When we got out, we went to our respective vehicles and prepared to go home. Pete’s vehicle had 20 bales of hay in it. Mine, 10 boxes of books.

I was starting my engine when I saw Cherokee Jones coming down the street. She’s hard to miss. Tall and lanky, she wears a black cape, and often has an extended hand that’s holding a cigarette. I considered just waving to her, but I thought better of it. She might see me and feel snubbed. Also, I was in a more social mood than previously.


Back of old Carquest building


I got out of the car and yelled her name. Cherokee did an about face and waved at me. I waved back. I looked out at the distance, in the direction of where we live. The sky was black and blue. I later determined that I was right in thinking that there was a nasty storm on the home front. Later, driving home, I noticed that there was snow on the side of the road. So this is it. First snow of the upcoming season, September 21, the anniversary of my father’s death. This won’t be hard to remember.

Cherokee began talking and I listened to her. I have a hard time when she starts to go on about conspiracy theories. Then its associative thinking at its worst. She instead told me about her day, which was one in which she took in the events that occurred in the immediate vicinity.

First of all, there was the matter of the dumpster. It’s now parked to the right of the side entrance of the BLBP warehouse. It’s now a garbage bag’s throw from the back door of the Sunrise Grill. Anyhow, Cherokee said that she’d tossed a bag of garbage in the dumpster and that, a few minutes later, when she walked by the dumpster, it was back on the ground. And yes, there it was, a brown plastic bag full of trash. I laughed when she said that she probably hit someone in the head with her garbage, and they then tossed it back out into the street.

She then turned slightly, and with cigarette in hand, gestured to a nearby telephone pole. She said that she began watching the crew begin work at 8:00 a.m. They began by using equipment and lifting a huge chunk of sidewalk out of the ground, then set it carefully to the side of their work area. They put it back when they were done. All day, she said, the men worked, in a very efficient fashion. “And,” she said, “there was this guy on the ground and any time anyone needed anything, he got it for them.”

We next turned our attention to the former Car Quest building, which is currently being renovated. Today they put slats on half the building, Pete said, in preparation for installing siding. Cherokee said she was also impressed with how the guys doing this work, worked.

I told Cherokee that everything seemed to be going well because she was having a good day. She then smiled. I said I had to get going, I had to give Pete an assist with the hay.

The last I saw of Cherokee, she was staring at that bag in front of the dumpster.

Next: 260. 9/22/23: The Upward and the Downward Spiral

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