Oscillation

CHAPTER TWENTY: Writing on the Side of the Road

In which our hero become indecisive. Maybe.

[Saturday morning, October 4th, Peoria Heights, IL]

"How can it be such a gorgeous day yet nothing seems to have gone right? I seem to be just randomly cruising around Peoria. Couldn't find the antique mall I was looking for in E. Peoria (1). Had the wrong address for the game store I wanted to visit (2). Not sure if I want to go look around Metamora at all, and if I did, I left my camera back at the hotel (3). Lack of focus may be partly to blame. Sifting and sorting thru all this new info that just doesn't match up with old info has put me in a bit of a funk. And the actual reunion hasn't even happened yet (4). This may prompt me to hit the road early on Sunday and zip back home, basically writing this area off. That doesn't change the fact that at the moment I'm parked in Peoria Heights waiting to hear from Cromag and wondering what the hell I'm going to do with myself till the reunion. There's not a cloud in the sky, the temperature is damn near perfect and I feel totally blah (5). Should I go have my mandatory meal at the Fountain, if it still even exists (6)? Should I track down the Wolf's den or see if I can find Number One's place (7)? What about the bridge where I took my historic plunge (8)? It's just too pleasant a day for this headful of bad wiring to be causing me issues. It's good that Pinklady didn't come, because by now we'd be snipping at each other constantly (9). I couldn't really take her to see the sights, because they don't exist any more (10). The strip of stores in the Heights is nice, but there wasn't much to catch my eye, really (11). A stranger in a strange land. Or better, a stranger with a strong sense of deja vu in a strange land (12). Still, I suppose it's too late to bail out on the whole thing. I'm not really sure I want to continue my tour of disappointment though. Back to the hotel would be the best course of action in that case."

(1) I did make it into Creve Cour for the first time ever, and purely by accident, but I never found the antique mall.
(2) Apparently you can physically move a store faster than you can update an online phone directory.
(3) Not sure if having the camera would have made a difference, since by that point in time I may have taken 10 pictures.
(4) This was probably around 1 in the afternoon, if I remember it right. The way the weekend went, I think it's safe to say that I didn't.
(5) Motivation seemed to have abandoned me at this point. I felt highly isolated and very out of place.
(6) It does still exist, and I did not eat there.
(7) I did neither of these, but it did stick in my mind, as will be seen later.
(8) Another area I chose not to visit.
(9) This would have proven to be very true.
(10) At least not as I remember them.
(11) And a good portion of the stores weren't even open.
(12) It left me feeling quite uneasy. Most of the places were familiar enough to register in my memory, but different enough that they couldn't completely connect to those memories. It was kind of like having a new pair of glasses where the lenses didn't quite match and your eyes were constantly struggling to focus.