Part 3, Chapter 5

A short chapter, an interlude really, before the end of Part 3. Sorry it's a bit late in the day -- I've been doing some travelling this weekend.

Also, this week has been the best week yet for book sales, so thanks to everybody who decided to support independent publishing and bought a copy. It's hugely appreciated. If you haven't got your copy yet, they're only $1.25, and available with the links on the right.

Anyway, enjoy the update,

Dave.

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5

That morning’s journey is long and uneventful. The sun is out and shining bright, for the most part, but its rays never seem to warm the earth enough. I wonder if the snow will ever leave and if this winter will ever give way to summer. With no sense of time any more, the winter seems to have lasted forever. The previous summer of heaving Oakland traffic and outdoor movies seems like a lifetime away. The crisp Pittsburgh autumn feels like it was of some bygone era. Back with baseball and letterman jackets and corndogs at the drive-in.

I remember last autumn, when Emily and I went on a date to the Phipps botanical gardens, in the heart of Schenley Park. I’d never visited the gardens before so we went on a late evening trip through the amazing panoramas of tropical plants. Fruit kept dropping from the trees and smashing on the ground around us. That evening with Emily was from a time that is now so alien that it may as well never have happened at all. The person I was then may as well be a character from a TV show; they have so little bearing on my life in the present.

I drive the snowmobile down miles and miles of abandoned roads. All I have is time to think.