Saturday, March 17, 2018

10,636. TALENT TO HIDE

TALENT TO HIDE
On Weds. be sure to hand me 
the bushel and the candle. And 
remember that by 5:30 the race 
car should be delivered. We ought
be able to flee like bootleggers of
old at the Georgia State Line.
-
A few things : Be sure your Will
is updated, and if you've got to have
a Last Testament, write it tonight. 
I guess if you have one already
and wish to write it again, then 
that would be a New Testament?
-
I've been to Stockton, NJ any
number of times. Once, hiking
the deep woods near some stream
where my dog was in swimming,
I found a painter with an easel,
painting a scene. His name was
Mike Mann. It was all pretty cool
how he had his bicycle rigged:
-
To carry his easels and paints
and brushes, some things to drink
and any other supplies. It looked
like a real business-bicycle of a 
unique design that I liked a lot.
-
Another time, also in Stockton, at
the old railway path that's now for
bicycles and hiking  -  one of those
greenway things that run 7 or 8 miles 
between such sacred towns, I took up
talk with an old-time fireman guy. He
was probably about 70, and knew lots
of things about the past. Right there.
-
Where he'd grown up and cavorted.
Hot rods and cars and girls. The way
the old place used to be, and the paucity
of cops back then  -  and the work they
all used to do when the rail line was 
yet running : Those regular-schedule
freights they all knew about, the ones
loaded with coal from which they'd
steal as the cars rolled along.
-
The whole world was playful, and
once ran like a song, an easy song
with a very great harmony. And then
he walked us to his house, to show 
us his old T'Bird, from 1955.

No comments: