52. My Morning Walk

I went for my walk this morning. Between the storms and the mowing, I think it had been over a week since my last walk. It felt particularly good. In the shower afterward, I was feeling a little like Rocky Balboa, of the first “Rocky” movie, for a good five or ten seconds. I won't lose weight with my morning walks, but it keeps the blood flowing and wakes me up a little.

53. The Plumber

The plumber came to fix the leak on the kitchen spout. It was the most curious spot for a leak, not where the joints and knobs and pipes are, but on the extended spout reaching over the sink, and as though there were a pin-prick hole in it. A tiny fountain of water would shoot up into the air. The plumber said he has seen that before, but Pop and I, we amateurs, cannot begin to conceive how that kind of damage happens.

We have had this same plumber forever, for as long as we have been at Dun Hill, and maybe he was with us at Bay Horse too. The middle-class family may have its family doctor, but at least we got a plumber, and we can barely afford him.

54. Social Life

Cripes, man, Pop is really getting phone-tagged to death today. First, it’s Kay, then it’s Vic, then it’s Lorie, and then around again. I don’t think he has gone a full hour today without receiving a call. And Pop could not be happier. It helps to keep him young, I think.

It reminds me of the better days of my e-life, when getting a friendly e-mail message was like sharing laughter with a friend, or if it was from an attractive girl, it could feel as warm and tingly as a kiss on the cheek, or if it was very flirty, like a caress on the bulge of my pants. But now it’s like none of that ever happened. Just another thing that died on me.