11,457. RUDIMENTS, pt. 559

RUDIMENTS, pt 559
('did they ever catch that guy?')
The Chappaqua train station 

was pretty cool, but it was one

of those self-aware, miracle-mile,

train stations with bagel and 

coffee and donut and commuter

breakfast places all in a row. It

was mostly useless to me, for

even with Metro North I'd 

still need a car at each end, or

a miserable and switchy train

ride, like all morning and then

all evening. Plus the parking.

And it wasn't walkable anyway

from there to Millwood. As

high-rolling as any of this book

warehouse stuff aimed to be,

it was suburban to the extent

that American commerce of 

most any sort is  -  wheels, 

gas, and motors needed. It's

a nice little place though.

-

The book warehouse, the 

physical plant, shared space 

with a tire distributor, at the

far other end of the building.

No interference or even

intermingling. Cars and 

car-spots in the usual array 

of parking lot junk; down a

small hill, with some nicer,

older and quite simple country

homes pressed in. As you drove

out, up from the lower area,

you passed all these older

homes, 3 or 4 of them, and 

it was a little sad to have

to realize the encroachment,

I guessed, all along the area,

from what I saw, that  -  like

anywhere else  -  the raw

countryside was rapidly

diminishing. Land clearance,

some new homes, tree-cutters,

all of that was underway in

many spots, and I surmised

that, 70 years previous, with

the coming of the ringed 

highways all about, the same

thing had happened before, and

maybe in a worse way  -  all

those new car/travel ideas

and the roads they brought 

made a massive difference 

to the isolation and the slower

peace and quiet that once must 

have been here. That's the way

it all went, and if it weren't

for that, in fact, even I would

not have been there.

-

So, the job had to work for 

me; I had too much invested.

It took me a while to jiggle the

part to make it work for me and,

frankly, it never was a good fit.

But, they stayed with me, as I

stayed with them. The funniest

thing was  -  the actual guy I

worked for was one of those

guys (nicest guy in the world,

I'd guess, otherwise) who had

two voices. It was striking, and

weirdly cool, but always a bit

disappointing too, for you knew

what was coming. When he was

talking to me or you, let's say,

he'd rattle off, in  a regular 'I'm

from New York' tone, the usual

sentiments and sentences you'd

expect. But, whenever the subject

got higher  -  intellectual, studies,

writers, philosophy stuff  -  it (the

voice) changed dramatically and

rolled right into this almost sham,

but not quite, intellectual-eze.

Which meant slower talk and

emphasis, the head held up,

pauses, concentration on vowels,

and something like 'I told you so'

sneer in the words. It was always

like that; curious and probably

not that abnormal in those

circles. I'd imagine, and I 

witnessed a few, when people

like Cornel West or Chris Hedges

went head to head in conversation

with him (either of those people

were often around), it was all

high-toned and open-ended

academic rhetoric, with each

one sort of picking up the others

sentences. Funny stuff. Maybe

it's like that with grocers, and 

cabbies too  -  talking IN with 

the IN crowd you've got.

-

I remember when Barack Obama

got inaugurated, the entire

staff, except for me and one or

two others, cleared out, over to

the Princeton Library, to watch

the broadcast inaugural on a 

large-screen broadcast they'd

set up for the town. An hour 

or two. It was a really big deal

to all of them. I was already

pretty jaded by tax-supported

political types, but they really

thought this guy had the dice

and the roll all set. Sometime

after that, I was downstairs with 

this owner-guy and he got all

high-running again with me,

going on  -  and I can remember

the quote exactly  -  and the

sudden change of voice, the high

patter, the deliberateness : 'Yes,

but you know Lincoln wasn't 

considered a great President

until after he left office...' The

premise behind this was the 

2008 financial crisis that he 

was  supposedly inheriting. It

was some sort of perfectly

acceptable, academic, logic

that I just let go. They had
this Obama guy on Rushmore
before he'd even taken his
first leak in the White House.

-

Speaking of which, here in

Woodbridge, in a couple of 

weeks, there's a Lincoln

impersonator coming in to 

town, at the local Barron Arts

Center, to do his Lincoln act

about the Civil War times and

all. I got my reservations in

today, for the advanced-note

seating. So all day I've been

thinking up this comedy 

routine about Lincoln. Like,

'Well, Mr. Lincoln, what can

you tell us about your White

House time?' Lincoln says,

'Oh it was OK. But the White

House back then was a bit 

dreary, black flags and dead

soldiers all around, medical

wards and encampments.

That war was miserable. And

then, you know, my kid died 

in there, the wife was a little

nuts  -  always buying things,

racking up these huge bills,

stuff I could hardly afford.

Many thought she was crazy.

Maybe she was taxing, and

sometimes even annoying,

but, well, I don't know about

crazy, exactly. She was haunted

by our dead son, yeah. She

always wanted to go out, 

plays, recitals, theater, and

oh how I hated that stuff.

That one night, of course,

she just HAD to go out, to

that Ford's Theater place to

see 'Our American Cousin,'

nagging me for two weeks.'

Oh then, Mr. President, you

didn't like the play? Or what 

did you think of it?' Lincoln

replies, 'Think of it? I never

did get to see the end, so I

don't know. They were 

dragging me out by that 

time... Diabolical, pestilential

types they all were. Not a

moment's piece. But, hey,

did they ever catch the guy?'
-
I'd sure like to show up there
to see the REAL Mr. Lincoln,
and ask him a little about

what he thinks over the way
things here in his beloved 'Nation'
have ended up. Blood, sweat, and
tears indeed, (Mr. Churchill). As
Lincoln once said, upon being
dissatisfied one morning at his
hotel room lobby breakfast service:
'If this is coffee, bring me tea.
If this is tea, I'll have coffee.'
(real quote, no goof).