Location

CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT: Rock In The Park

In which our hero sits in the sun some more.

[Saturday afternoon, October 4th, Metamora, IL]

"I'm sitting in a small park on the south side of Metamora. Off to my right and maybe 30 yards away is a pinkish boulder that marks the site of 2 of the Lincoln-Douglas debates that happened in the 1800's. One of the houses where I used to live is abut 3 blocks NW of here. Of course, it bears only a passing resemblance to the way I remember it "WEIBTY" (1). So for the moment, I'm just sitting in the sun and doing some writing (2). Gonna head over and say hello to Steve's folks (3) for a bit, then back to the hotel for a nap maybe (4). Then it will be time to get cleaned up for the event. "WEIBTY" will most likely be the order of the evening, along with a vast sense of disconnect and distance (5). Why am I doing this again (6)? Monte and Jana had the right idea, I'm starting to think (7). "WEIBTY" "

(1) Whaddya Expect, It's Been Twenty Years" This is what the common sense voice kept saying in my head, over and over and over again through the whole weekend.

(2) No, I did a lot of writing. I killed a pen, I wrote so much. There is a slight chance that it died of boredom, though.

(3) This was one of very few points in the weekend that was very much the same. Strange how often dinosaur poo comes up in conversation.

(4) Never got the nap.

(5) Less of the first than I had thought, but slowly increasing levels of the last two throughout the evening.

(6) It was supposed to be a fun weekend away from home. That's not quite how it turned out.

(7) Or, they're just much better adjusted adults than I am. Either way, the end result is the same.