Friday’s Bumper Sticker
Weed Man
They encountered each other every day, and every day, the ginger-bearded young man said, “Hey, man, do you have any weed?”
Every day, Mitchell said, “No, sorry.”
After the first three days of this, Mitchell wondered, why is this man asking him for weed? Mitchell wondered, does he look like a man who might have weed? What makes a person look like he might have weed? He had his own conceptions of this. To his mind, he didn’t look like one who might be carrying weed.
The other thought Mitchell had was, perhaps the man greeted everyone like this. Mitchell laughed at the idea of this man saying to everyone met in town, “Hey, man, do you have any weed?”
After five days of this, Mitchell encountered the man while crossing the street, and said, by way of greeting, “Sorry, I don’t have any weed.”
The weed man looked at him like he was crazy.
Which made Mitchell laugh.
The Rocket Man Dream
Dreamed last night that I had rockets attached to my back and was flying across the country with my arms stretched out like wings. The rockets appeared to be silver tanks. Dark goggles covered my eyes but I was otherwise casually dressed in jeans and a shirt. Wondering about my clothes was part of my dream, because I was surprised I wasn’t better prepared for flying by wearing something more appropriate for it.
As I flew, I’d get distracted by the views and forget where I was going. My outfit came back to bother me, too, and I considered landing to find something more suited for flying. I was high over mountains (and spent some thought on trying to understand what mountains they were) and thought, I should be colder. I was surprised and impressed that the weather and altitude didn’t bother me, even as I watched storm cells moving my way. It reminded me of flying over France once, where we had to avoid black cells wealthy with snakes of lightning. Our aircraft was a C-130, and it wasn’t capable of climbing over the storms. I wondered if my rockets could take me higher, but then realized that I might have problems with air pressure and breathing. At the same time, I thought, but I haven’t had a problem yet.
That’s where the dream ended.
Appearances
A friend said he saw me walking through the Railroad District. “You looked like you were thinking, I bet I can flip that car over.”
I had a good laugh about that. He related a tale about his appearance. A friend had seen him at a grocery store’s produce section. Later, telling my buddy about it, said, “You looked like you were angry about something.”
My friend thought it over. “I was trying to find the garlic.”
Appearances. Not always what they seem.
Cosmopolitan Dress
We stopped in mid-morning during the round of errands to drop a book off with a friend. She was embarking on travel. It started with several lengthy flights, and she lacked anything to read. Could anyone suggest anything?
What did she seek? She’s well-read, but for this, she thought she’d like a mystery. How ’bout “Dissolution,” by C.J. Sansom? After a brief description, she was enticed into accepting our offering.
Opening her door, we were impressed with how she was dressed. Usually, she looks like most folks in southern Oregon, ready to hike or pick fruit. Today, she was dressed in svelte black clothes. We gushed with admiration.
She blushed with confession. “These are my p.j. bottoms. I haven’t dressed yet.”
Ah. Well, she still looked quite cosmopolitan.
Michael Seidel, writer 