Everyone who stopped to speak to me today commented on the change of weather, which seemed to take everyone by surprise. I was glad I'd worn a sweater beneath my jacket. If not for the sunshine, the cold wind would have had me packing up early. I remarked to an elderly gentleman that it seemed summer was finally over. "Nothing lasts forever," he said. "In fact, they should take that word out of the dictionary. Then again, what do I know. I'm just an old schmuck." Political Man said he kept his windows open all night. He continues to blame America's ills on Evangelicals, Tea Partiers, southerners and mid-westerners. Mountain Man predicted government default and chaos, and cited polls showing how corrupt and poorly educated America is. As I helped Marie don her sweater, she mentioned a passage that intrigued her in Close to the Edge, which she is now reading. In it, one of the main characters speculates on what is going through the mind of a young woman in the passenger seat of a luxury automobile that crawls past him. "How does he know that?" said Marie, impressed by the insight, having had similar thoughts while riding in a car in her youth. It's nice when someone gets what you're trying to communicate, although I'm not as confident as I once was that I have unusual insight into the psyche. That was youthful arrogance, illusion. "Lucky guess," I said. With each passing day life becomes more mysterious and despairingly meaningless. I did gain one fan today, a toddler being wheeled along in a stroller, who blew me a kiss. Actually, he was blowing kisses to everyone, charming all as his mom beamed. And, of course, there was a sad story. An attractive woman in her 50's who wishes me well each day lost a friend, 58, to ovarian cancer, a gruesome, painful death, she said. When I hear something like that I'm reminded that I'm lucky to be making an ass of myself trying to sell books on the street even on days of slight returns. My thanks to Alan, who purchased a Knights Templar thriller, to the woman who bought a crime novel in Russian, and to Natalya and Benedict, who donated it and three other books.
Vic's 4th Novel: http://tinyurl.com/bszwlxh
Vic's 3rd Novel: http://tinyurl.com/7e9jty3
Vic's Website: http://members.tripod.com/vic_fortezza/Literature/
Vic's Short Story Collection (Print or Kindle): http://www.tiny.cc/Oycgb
Vic's 2nd Novel: http://tinyurl.com/6b86st6
Vic's 1st Novel: http://tiny.cc/94t5h
Vic's Screenplay on Kindle: http://tinyurl.com/cyckn3
Vic’s Short Story on Kindle: http://tinyurl.com/k95k3nx
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