A BOOK-ENDISH SORT OF DAY

Being kind to cigar-smokers is very tiring. I spent all day surrounded by middle-aged men with lit bundles of leaves in their mouths, and now my head hurts. For one thing, it didn't keep them from talking. Or savagely screaming at the television set when the sports team from San Francisco did something. For another thing, I am a pipe smoker.
You can imagine the anguish.

Will no one appreciate the clever pipe smoking badger with his furry snout twitching as he demonstrates the famed tolerance and good nature of his kind by charitably putting up with the stogie whackers?
Oh woe is me!



The morning light was soft and gentle, and the drizzle had quieted down the city. Even the white-haired Harley riders who passed while I was waiting for the bus seemed restrained. Marin looked a little less brittle in the haze, and the smell of the tidal flats at Pickleweed was more muted than it had been most of the summer.

No wading marshbirds.
The tide was too high.

A solitary crow at the gas station seemed to nod in friendly greeting when I walked by, and I complimented him on his dashing appearance.
I don't really know him, but it was meant as a social gesture.

Wetness, and the quality of dreams.



Over the next several hours I drank tea and smoked two pipes while other people howled at the teevee and talked political smack. I fear that the next election will not stop them from uttering inane bullpucky.
At their advanced age, it's a habit that's hard to break.

Let us not speak of lunch at all.
It was frightfully Marin.
Arguably edible.



Dinner upon returning to the city was pork sausage with duck livers, bacon, and mustard green, over a bed of noodles with hot sauce, fishsauce, chopped tomato, and sliced Jalapeños.
Plus ginger. Lots of ginger.

After which I wandered around the neighborhood smoking a vibrant Virginia & Perique mixture, while frightening imaginary people, like innocent little tykes or night-haunting vegan non-smokers.

I am now finishing-off the day with a big bowl of French Vanilla Icecream and cup of strong black coffee before bed.


A good beginning, and a good end.
Just the centre wasn't right.



==========================================================================
NOTE: Readers may contact me directly:
LETTER BOX.
All correspondence will be kept in confidence.
==========================================================================