It is Wednesday and I can't get this out of my mind.
What I would like to do is take a month and a
Greyhound to see you. I do not have the time
nor the money to do this, but I would like to
pretend. I do not have the stamina to cross this
country
coast to coast and party with noders,
but I would like to cross it just the same, and
talk to you
one by one. What we will do is
find a quiet
coffee shop somewhere and talk.
First there is Jhasen. It is his idea and he
should be first. We need to talk about moving and the powers of friendship. I would like to hear him talk about Molly. The paper
is important and so are the pens, for we are writers
and thinkers and many words that pass through us
need to be held on to.
And then there is Chris. I imagine we will find our way into talk of health, and good foods, and
muscle tone. And again, about friendship and
chemistry, for these are strange and powerful
forces. Snow angels and religion and escapism,
all of these are things we need to cover.
And Jessica. She is the long lost twin I never knew I had but I have been suspecting this for a while. We have decided that she is going to be the consultant for my next book.
There will be no agenda, I will make no written lists
besides for which coffee shops I've been in. I cannot
come meet you as though I am interviewing you. I
will come to you as a friend and like we do, the
talk will take us wherever it may. We will need to
focus on the coffee and carton between us for
brief pauses of silence.
Then Eric. I think we'd need two
cartons of smokes, because I'll want to try his. And I will need that paper because there are some designs for my B is for Boston tattoo that I
want to run by him. And I imagine we'd talk about
charm and the EDB and religion, again. Eric is the
first stranger I never had trouble talking to on
the phone. I am curious.
Birch may take longer than some. I
need to know about this fear he has, the notion
that I may steal his soul by studying his
photographic likeness. This is a fascinating
concept and I wonder why no one besides for us
has ever voiced this worry. A coffee shop in a town where the babies are delivered by storks must be
altogether something else and I may be very
talkative.
I have met with Laura but was
thinking too much to talk. I do not want to
think when I talk to Laura, we do too much thinking
and talk will be nice. I will need to remember
some plastics for her. I will need to come up for air lots.
I have met with Bart too, and am
always talking too much. There is so much to
say to this person, a quiet place in Columbus
will do quite nicely for more of this talk spilling ideas. I will need the notebook so I can empty my head of the thoughts he sets spinning.
I need to meet Laurel, although I have heard so much about her I am sometimes sure that I know her. The best part of knowing you people is that good people appreciate good people. Friends are friends of friends and there are so many things about Laurel I want to discover that I may run out of time. It may take days, we'd get sick of coffee.
Mat will be interesting. I'll wager a bet that
Mr. Grumpy Pants is quite civil
in person, just as I am not as loud as you'd
think. Mat has some interesting notions about
the workplace that I'd like to explore further,
and there is always music to be discussed. What
is wrong with Enya, for example.
Ken will get a sheet of paper and a pen, we will both compose a list of pros and cons about any
random topic. I will want to watch him move his
pen, and inspect the margins he has doodled in.
Ms. Loud Holy Vision is full of the best sort of words, and I am hungry for any words she will give me. I want her to fill my pages with nodeshell after nodeshell after nodeshell. Not challenges. Just thought germs for my delight.
I would like to have the time to meet you. You that I have listed and many many more, one at a time, at my own slow leisurely pace, with the drinks cooling off and the sun sliding by and a strange city moving around me. This is
what I keep thinking about. I can't get it out
of my mind. It will not happen.
Of course, you can always come here. I promise we'll find
a nice rock in Central Park.