Interchanges

POEMS BY
Robert Murray Davis
INTERCHANGES
 Interchanges
Copyright © 2009 Robert Murray Davis

All rights reserved.

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 Interchanges

POEMS BY
Robert Murray Davis

2009
 Interchanges

intersection: crossing, converging, meeting, junction, Canadian term inter-

change—less confining, limiting than exit/entrance describe time space
meeting, sharing brief identity not just trip 10,000 miles 5 time zones 20
states 4 provinces 30 beds gift shops measureless to man lives identities
overlaying merging shifting moving on….

1
Who travels alone Morning bathroom preparation time: Male: shower 5”
shave 3” tops Female: shower, 15” fixing face etc. 15” plus departure
preparations: Male: loading, checking, cursing, 15” plus see below Fe-
male: loading checking shifting things from one container to another
stopped looking in interest of peace and quiet

Zuzak NM road not taken off 66 since 1939 4 years old in NM with
schoolteacher aunt gave birthday Christmas books travel chance hang out
Girl Scout camp other relatives new wider world

Dalhart TX 1952 with Mom from now as long as years she lived stop now
at Dairy Queen tell counter kid I worked at one in 1950 50 cents/hour oh
wow no one‟s that old.

Goodwell OK Panhandle A&M (now

State U.) first conference paper Au-
brey Beardsley/Ronald Firbank how
decadent can you get at least no live-
stock involved small college chair-
man says “Davis is a smart son of a
bitch but he is smart” want that as
epitaph people say no one would put
it on a tombstone wrong nephew sells
them ready to go when called.

Liberal KS (oxymoron?) cousin

worked oil patch there helped support family at 19 Cattleman‟s Café “No
bull-just great prices, great selection, great service” truth in advertising tea
glass quart-sized “take some with you?” not and get to Wichita this week.
Air museum relic of WWII B-24 training base good collection small
planes Beech Bonanza
model Buddy Holly crashed
in “The Day the Music
Died” didn‟t Waylon gave
up seat to Big Bopper good
trade music-wise his last
home five miles from me
semi-pro baseball some
more pro some semi Bull
Durham baseball simple
game throw hit catch here

2
Wichita still on line uncle 9 kids hated father vice
versa visited circa 1952 he snarky apologized for
calling him to meet me KU girls offered me ride
“just like your old man” next generation there
shorter wider friendly oldest cousin gave up teaching
more money Fuller Brushes almost MA English
fought advisor windmill-tilting Democrat candidate
heavily Republican district last campaign by bicycle oldest son English
teacher bright kid younger hustles brushes others sell good works too
many even my generation keep track of pizza place yuppified warehouse
“Big-Ass Beers” main cousin‟s wife conventional liked explaining re-
model E

Home again home again Boonville MO Dairy Queen 1950 musician in

sleek convertible leather seats burned absent women‟s backsides impress-
ing Bill Stuesse and me maybe not Bill seri-
ous then and 50 years later 2008 middle-aged
white couple in yellow „Vette wearing match-
ing do-rags living the dream high school
classmate standing in middle brick-paved 7th
Street in front of Catholic Church his late
wife first girl I kissed didn‟t tell him apolo-
gies for not having white lightning yet son
coming from Texas to brew and back later to drink family reunion upscale
Westcoast daughter-in-law first trip east of Rockies thinks “Deliverance” a
documentary good thing didn‟t buy sleeveless camo shirt in Tucumcari
cue banjo music doing ok until stuck to glue trap 2 dead bats live music in
refurbished hotel good deal niece by marriage got half price fits right in
family unforgiveable sin paying retail taken over barnyard with free horses
goats sheep chickens occasional coyote not quite ready to terminate but
chicken demise moves in that direction local paper list June 31 events sur-
prising number son-in-law judges from billboards MO economy comes
from porn and fireworks

over two dozen three generations clan assembled one niece not husband
Afghanistan starting hospital no resources midnight requisition friends US
other niece husband summer job Vermont 9 more possible away plenty
left 7 boys under 7 rampaging over sister‟s big yard in/out of fishpond no
rules just right house smokehouse on Register Historic Places built c. 1858
our family there sixty years good god when you‟re having fun life what-
ever

3
 Old Katy station caboose in front clamber in up
down out tell stories of great grandfather my dad
brakeman WWII making Parsons KS run fell off
boxcar like his father before him hit boozerelaxed
nothurt

Blackwater MO
niece‟s friend mayor
supreme leader for
life world traveller
rescues fawns
grandsons less im-
pressed than grown-
ups into fancy re-
habbed railroad ho-
tel restaurant patron
see small children
there goes neighbor-
hood relief at depar-
ture for place locals
eat cheese sandwiches hot dogs train up close and personal engineer
comes out of restaurant lunch in box climbs on away life good 4 year-old
wants to stay and watch more why not onward

4
Arrow Rock church into theater E‟s sister-in-law acted there years gone
told Boonville small not to her went there to shop here one-block canopied
wooden sidewalks one side main street stone gutters down to river big
stimulus package 1830 or so to ease ford Santa Fe Trail abandoned start
line moved to Independence town shrunk delivered vegetables there 1946
played town baseball team 1950 dodging outfield cowpiles years later saw
our first base third base brothers catcher twin died cancer left Boonville
long ago members local team who knows
where most gone if census numbers don‟t
lie what‟s left ice cream notions folk
kitsch historic inn closed whole town
Heritage Site lifesupport

Intersection: my sister rummaging finds

my 8th grade high school college diplo-
mas and forces them on me to take jour-
ney

Signs and wonders: Wine Diesel Deli While You Wait Charlie's Tattoos
Yucko's Poop Scoop
Nude Women Exit 74 billboard stylized Indian brave bare to waist arm
raised palm out, “Howe Nissan.” Unpc retaliation Indian artifacts “Smile
and say Chee‟s” Eat here Get Gas

St.Louis friend over 50 years each other‟s best

men his marriage longer after widowing de-
layed adolescence women got 2 decades cra-
zier than my first crop recent ex-fiancée left
godawful pink bedspread guest room dodged
bullet good guide Chihuly like Chicken-Man
he‟s everywhere New Cathedral gaggle
Shriner wives offspring “Are you Catholic?”
close enough describe difference cardinal
archbishop bishop threw in monsignor much
impressed

5
South to Memphis first in 1957 to New Orleans first view sharecropper
cabins segregated fountains B-girls sleazy vice chicory coffee Spanish
moss never again that exciting stop White Castle E wanted to try it after
Harold/Kumar ordered rings don‟t taste like onions that‟s because they‟re
chicken only thing that doesn‟t taste like “all the way to Memphis” code
for view of woman sitting immodestly Britney Spears et seq.

Memphis he‟p me find the party former colleague

too generous pleasant survive old department E‟s
halfbrother smalltown smartass successful aca-
demic what‟s not to like Stax records only whites
there Isaac Hayes‟ Cadillac bling before bling
golden screws (old joke: ass fell off) on license
plate better shape than home Memphis Slim to be
restored better hurry better stuff than Sun Records
of course no Elvis Jerry Lee et al. (Six months
later memorial half-brother full drama dept. treat-
ment impressive no English dept. could do as well
or have the will) not bad town but Fox News in
motel Billy Graham column in paper deep in Bible
Belt away

Conversations people seen heard of phone signs sights where eat stay turn
where next E asks questions old lecture habits answers tells friends even if
I‟m wrong I‟m entertaining solid basis relationship secret of success plus
some breaks 24/7 togetherness quality time shopping her museums wan-
dering me country song how can I miss you if you won‟t go away

Stereophonic: female gps nagging more sorrow than anger

“Recalculating” named her Shirley always sure

6
Air Force Museum WWII planes my youth wanting to fly John Wayne P-
40 wear long silk scarf be dashing get girl 20/200 in good eye shift to P-51
sleek rare conflict Grandpa Murray built P-47s like burly bumblebees
main strength and awkwardness B-17 biggest plane imaginable 60 years
later in one cramped small little grandson delighted sit down Mom takeoff
museum planes I‟d barely heard of row on row E pose for photo by B-25
“Strawberry Bitch” she said it Cold War tro-
phy DDR German Trabant 2cycle pollution
machine pulled in triumph through Persepolis
wherever newer planes technology takes over
aura WWII patriotic movies overlying period
planes

OMG Shirley throws spring in plug no gps oh woe only made solo trip
Maritimes halfdozen times no gps no Mapquest what to do to do up 4 a.m.
motel computer Mapquest printouts relief forge on

Niagara Falls shuffle off past Buffalo Ontario Falls

“delightfully tacky” US side just tacky memory of my
son 1986 “almost like a foreign country” disconcerting
Cuban cigars seal pelts open ads for US contraband
long limo tour 4 couples Brits miniature pilot wife col-
lege students two oldest couple loudest/funniest pretty
to think so sight of youth restraining reckless middle
age and well beyond sign for motel Retro Prices green shag carpet pre-
dicted

Tight with water contrast southwest big glasses here juice glass with reluc-
tance

Reunions on fly former colleague good life Connecticut River view niece
Vermont summer trek one year Oregon one Alaska kids love it best-
behaved we‟ve seen including ours locust descent local library check out
maximum librarian should hold rest of summer wrong back next week
older nephew defensive about being labeled obsessive reader worked for
me daughter bound for jail or high office not incompatible youngest
“You‟re a lot like Papa” brother wrong like me I‟m older strained credu-
lity more past in passing this lot key to us escape crap timeshare cheap
motellike nicer closer civilization simulacrum anyway

7
Vermont breakfast specials raspberry cream cheese stuffed French toast
waffle topped chocolate raspberry ice cream

New England villages hemmed in valleys holding on between summer

tourists skiers antiques as fallback selling quaint most retro-looking shops
run by outsiders $1.91 for coffee refill in New Hampshire owner preserv-
ing outsider look hair trying to fit in fat chance miles to go before see gas
station none from Troy NY-Bennington VT (2 stations; pumps hooded
suppliers unpaid) first gas in Bennington old-fashioned station (cf. Retro
Prices) grimy, pleasant proprietor grimy early teen son old-fashioned val-
ues old-fashioned scuz in bathroom E stayed in car old-fashioned way of
paying—cash later towns don‟t seem independently sustainable go else-
where buy real stuff

Difference Northeast/Southwest
linear smalltowns latter embrace
honest depressing decency decay
in landscape sprawl

Case against New England trees

obscure view of landscape actual
site of gas stations screw up satel-
lite radio reception just unnatural
West is West

8
Cape Cod economy Dunkin‟
Donuts miniature golf speed
limits 40 Tantalus torment
(Phoenix 45 rueful joke city
planners) illusion progress
complete halt Provincetown E
“Sure are a lot of men here”
I‟m hip change of Martha‟s Vineyard Gay Head to Aquinnah pc loss to
low-minded humorists Thoreau in all museums honored in breach Cape
Cod not on sale Hyannis deli tile-setter foreign workers flooding market
means East Europeans Portuguese well “They make the tiles” knows about
ristras if not the word lousy place to visit maybe live ok

E heroic outwaits valued customer recording halfhour anyway charms

customer service nextday replacement Shirley plug and on

Food notes motel waffle machines each one

teach one sign of seasoned traveler cheap
West Yarmouth breakfast $4.95 plus coffee
ham slice square no part of pig I ever saw
hometown ham salty edges curled bone-in
that‟s a pig Cape Cod regular coffee cream
sugar wrong wrong wrong

Newport RI “where people are rich together” so that‟s a

sitz bath to pamper Vanderbilt butts how to get out? ser-
vants do that for us guy in line on cell phone hold steel
shares another day you been to Europe oh 15 times or so
up yours sent to servants quarters toilets know your place

Maine Moose Moose Moose sign Moose Antlers

Blueberries 2 of 3 buses from Bar Harbor “Out of
Service” Maine motto? Ellsworth intersection 1981
from New Brunswick to Hungary via Oklahoma Au-
gust Saturday rain campers all in town no stoplight
Calais-Portland inauspicious start to new life effec-
tive end of life in Oklahoma

9
 Weather snobbery motel clerk from 4
hours north real snow 211” last year
Catch-22 be proud of something you
ought to be ashamed of campers show up
2 a.m. torrential rainstorm mesh-side tent
think only rains straight down me 35
years in OK didn‟t know it could rain
straight down

Catamaran Bar Harbor Yarmouth guy in old pick up camper shell with
sheep honeymoon? guard go home and take your girlfriend with you
crossing swell heavy fog elderly female “They sure blow the horn a lot” E
queasy I contra advice coffee breakfast sandwich easy black looks

Western Nova Scotia economy nursing homes used clothing Frenchy‟s

known from NB days all over E lusts after comforter still in plastic no
room gets 4 dishcloths $2 also Guy‟s Frenchy‟s schism Guy the Martin
Luther of used clothing how many theses church door later learn no differ-
ence disillusion wanted doctrinal struggles holy wars peltings worn jeans
parkas

Digby NS restaurant facing scallop boats brought dinner long hawsers for
Bay of Fundy tide drop Habitation/Port Royal English burnt rebuilt in trib-
ute for tourists praise gallant losing commander what‟s now Annapolis
Royal participation award like Louisburg captured through spy‟s map in
bar of soap no wonder French attitude soap later learn Quebec City con-
quered perfidious English came from wrong direction Maginot Line etc.
never forget/learn Annapolis Royal no Frenchy‟s Wal-Mart chain store
tasteful tourist trap one sign PMS Papier Maché Sculpture sense of humor
warning?

Annapolis Royal b&b nice Nazi owner imperi-

ous doesn‟t cover it go here eat there put knife
on special rest peelings in bowls very unNovaS-
cotian rehabs houses Frank Lloyd Wright of
interior décor miniature Pom unyippy (or else)
other guests Olympia WA tax accountant on my
writing “It‟s deductible!” couple graduated OU
1970 knew colleagues Houston friend stories
Donald Barthelme E thinks woman had me for
class hiding it

10
All politics local signs Stop the Quarry Start the Quarry Save Digby Neck

Signs putative villages don‟t materialize scattering of houses agriculture

no commercial life „ til tip of Digby Neck restaurants whale watching
promise ride (wrote “rid”) of life on Zodiac inflatables boast never turned
over consoling sign southern NS “Fauxburg” applies most towns Neck
most NS coasts

Fakelore Grand Pre fictional Evangeline more real than people Dorothy‟s
house Liberal KS Wizard of Oz Anne of Green Gables Prince Edward
Island Grand Pre entrance fee $7 seniors no conversion break this year see
18th century farming domestic implements generic life poor nasty brutish
Brits moved Acadians to warmer climate okra cuisine gets crown AAA
like Louvre compared to what I basketball center 1951 go figure

Cross culturalism Auld‟s Cove NS Tim Horton‟s in Petro Canada station

group ageing men bullshitting drinking coffee like my father‟s/brother‟s
morning ritual shock my age now gathering would take ton of airline tick-
ets Tim Horton‟s Cheticamp group bullshitting French Albuquerque Span-
ish-English McDonald‟s

Cape Breton 2nd language shifts French-Gaelic back again at Cheticamp St

Ann‟s College teaches Gaelic piping Scot stuff gift shop coffee mug your
coat of arms (E‟s Maxwell mine Murray) only $25 tax included only fake
Scot pays that much most real Scots Cape Breton took look said get fuck
out built ship New Zealand sign first landing Portuguese? E wading below
ankles to say she did it cold

11
Cabot Trail sign Folk Art Ahead thanks for warning like elk/moose/etc.
steered E pewter not bad other stuff just sad otherwise nothing funny Cape
Breton gorgeous views few people no Tim Horton‟s Point Hawkesbury-
Cheticamp

What to do Cheticamp Friday night Julia‟s Frenchy‟s dis-

count store Dollar Store restaurant live music mournful like
Annapolis Royal sans Frenchy‟s etc.

St.Ninian‟s Antigonish 1 altar unique name like ninny‟s

tomb Midsummer Night’s Dream Vacation Bible School
sign “Surfin‟ with the Holy Spirit” His own blog facebook
beyond shoving Bibles in motel drawers

Tidal Bore Truro NS

unlike expected Cecil B.
DeMille flooding Red
Sea tsunami—2-3 foot
wave keeps on coming
odder phenomenon Mor-
mon bikers m/f hearty
wind-burned blonde
you‟re from Arizona?
LDS? E great restraint
says simply no idea for
book series Hardy Boys etc. Mormon Bikers at the Tidal Bore Tom Swift
and Mormon Bikers at the Tidal Bore Tarzan etc. Terminator XXV: Mor-
mon Bikers…E says shut up

Truro Saturday night even

Mormons think dead baccha-
nalian compared to Sunday
death warmed over few fast
food places large supermar-
kets in/near larger towns
breakfast dean theology
Acadia University come to
give sermons Presbyterian
churches definitely not
Southern Baptist tho‟ some
of his best friends….

12
Nova Scotia history disaster on disaster
SS Atlantic sinks 1873 Titanic dead/
survivors brought to Halifax 1919 explo-
sion Halifax Harbor 1918 Springhill
mine disasters 1891 1956 1958 Swissair
Flight 111 crash 1998 state-of-art century
Citadel Halifax no shot in anger 200
years counting

Citadel pc Asian piper female guardsperson in pseudo-Scots pseudo-

regiment non-pc question does female dress like real member Highland
Regiment

Halifax Harbor no seagull in

sight where do they go like Hol-
den Caulfield‟s ducks probably
doing ok by themselves ducks
migrated penned for winter
keeper had to shovel duck shit
no Salinger/Holden awareness
screw „em sign “Cerrado por
limpieza” feels like home in
Arizona $250 fine for feeding ducks Public Garden maybe keep them slim
enough to migrate pity terribly destructive force and costly

Natural History Museum fossil imprint horseshoe crabs mating crustacean

porn attendant feeding live white mice to bullfrogs audience enthralled
children mother a lot of explaining to do tonight osprey nest gone global
duct tape McDonald‟s ketchup container

Peggy‟s Cove rarest photo lighthouse no

tourist in front stupid tourist signs WARN-
ING / INJURY AND DEATH / HAVE RE-
WARDED CARELESS / SIGHT-SEERS
HERE /THE OCEAN AND ROCKS ARE
TREACHEROUS / SAVOUR THE SEA
FROM A DISTANCE new WARNING /
Stay away from the water‟s edge /Avoid wet
or dark coloured rocks /Stay far back during high winds / and rough seas
Darwn award awaits

13
Previous visit previous lover skipped souvenier needed
toilet skeptical public one previous experience Mexico
here new mantra it‟s so clean

Sadly missing sign north of Peggy‟s Cove Pussy Pause

Motel truth in advertising with a twist leave cat there
other former lover wondered if owners hip/naïve if latter
shouldn‟t someone explain where to start?

All this familiar half-dozen trips or more to Maritimes 1981-1996 solo

sometimes children lovers siblings familiar/strange life that once I led lead
me on

Cape Cod/ Nova

Scotia beaches/
actual view of wa-
ter congestion/iffy
roads quaint/
picturesque com-
mercial chains/
small businesses
(except Tim Hor-
tons Wal-Mart/
McDonalds misce-
genation)

Saint John Reversing Falls v. Tidal Bore first more commercialized over-
looks from higher inboard/jet boats through falls kayakers more bird life
feeding off turbulence Saint John River to Bay of Fundy/back Saint John
paper praises romantic qualities fog cf. Catch-22 again proud of what you
ought to be ashamed of source
of great headlines Moose Shot
in South End Plane Crash
Caused by Low Altitude

14
 E ideal tourist why can’t I see everything well here‟s Loy-
alist House oh would have been good vandal ravaging gift
shops credit card v. fire/sword

August 4 New Brunswick Day Emancipation Day where I

come from ball game Afro kids‟ team took our shortstop
deintegrated us do Blacks still gather moved on

Rothesay NB-Cambridge Narrows 50 miles 2.5 hours hopping 5 ferries

along Saint John River few inhabitants gorgeous scenery River Inn Evan-
dale for sale had best gingerbread since our housekeeper in late 40s took
my brother there agreed

Gagetown NB like Arrow Rock MO important transit points river traffic

first stop Santa Fe Trail both superseded white houses lots too large many
empty only commerce caters tourists more crafts Gagetown more ice
cream/notions/dulcimer players Arrow Rock both hanging with vestigial
nostalgia better food Gagetown b&b owner says first Americans this sea-
son artist co-op clerk was waitress in strip club unregulated area “Where
they knew what stripping meant” why Gagetown why not

15
 Fredericton NB capital a few blocks picturesque great
hotel room great view of river cheap helpful clerk infor-
mation center tourism down museum ok founded Bea-
verbrook big contribution model Lord Copper Evelyn
Waugh‟s Scoop shopping even E discouraged onward
and up Saint John

English restraint French élan History, well told Une

histoire épique for King‟s Landing historical recon-
struction of village/farm life yawn

Grand Falls and so on and on measured relative Niagara Falls fudging

altitude water volume whatever it takes

Legend of Malabum Indian girl led captor Mohawks over falls to doom
spirit appears tropism of Indian maidens falling from high places Tucum-
cari NM who knows where else what about matrons sluts other non-
virgins

Maritime churches Protestant

tidy white wood French stone
Fredericton new Catholic church
built in ruthless absence good
taste (Evelyn Waugh) goodness
how sad

16
Quebec license plates “Je me souviens” E asks translation “I remember…
to hate the English”

Quebec really foreign only native An-

glophones in Rimouski hotel infra-
structure schools etc. familiar what
alternative whale watch St. Lawrence
more watchers than whales 25+ Zodi-
acs larger boats humpback 30 feet
from boat flipping tail crew delighted
nice Danish pharmacologist/wife

Ferry across to Forest-

ville no sheep but
camper and roof rack
won‟t fit no whales
lunch French fries and
gravy à la “Diner” Balti-
more Catholic thing? E
says older men look
better than older women
peculiar set mouth/jaw
disappointment unre-
signed younger other
way around (same ob-
servation in Montana restaurant year later question of class? urban/rural?)

Little one-street towns squeezed between river bank forest b&bs rental
cottages nothing obvious for people to do too cold for swimmng—4 to 8 C
(39 to 46 F) no real beaches.
Maybe just sit

Baie St. Paul gorgeous full of

tourists unseeable

17
 Basilica St. Anne de Beaupre
not as cool as Santiago de
Compostella with botafumiero
huge censer swings from ceil-
ing across apse occasionally
breaks loose museum here
dioramas on girlhood of Vir-
gin cobbled from Protogospel
of James Gospel of Pseudo-
Matthew inquiring minds
want to know pious frauds
oblige explaining ecclesiastical hardware E with minimal cringe-factor
French spell my language as badly as I pronounce theirs “precluded”
translation of “preludé” note about fishing for “ell‟ pamphlet “Why Chose
Marriage?” why indeed

Basilica crowded ex-votos not as funky as

Santuario at Chimayo NM where rubber
limbs from dolls hang up sermon French
Superman kryptonite superhumanité
woman in Harley pullover jeans kneeling
by St. Anne group of bikers not Hell‟s
Angels in line at separate kiosk await serial
blessing old priest patron carpal tunnel
coin machine in toilet no condoms perfumes Tylenol gum

Redemptorist fathers run it inter-

section my parents married rectory
Redemptorist parish Kansas City

3 more waterfalls in Quebec City

area overpriced admission

18
Quebec City first there 1981 beginning trip changed
my life best dinner so far in Aux Ancien Canadiens
able to joke about failed marriage back 2008 lunch
waiter wasn‟t born in 1981 other restaurant waiter
flirts with E she signs charge slip behind her he
mimics signing eyebrows raised says to me you‟re
very lucky very good I say mojo working don‟t say

Everything new to someone polar bear aquarium

playing ecstatically with stick where would he have
seen one before?

Museum of Civilization exhibit new towns Sun City and Arconsanti in AZ

we‟re cutting edge prediction of “Quebec in 100 years…meeting places
will form randomly and sponta-
neously, at a street corner, cross-
roads or square, which instantly
become modes of human inter-
action” pretty to think so if it
were the least intelligible big-
gest crowds roof garden, squash,
beans, cabbage, peas, arti-
chokes, lettuce, basil, thyme no
sage parsley rosemary urbanites
don‟t miss

Necrology Isaac Hayes wish he‟d been buried in gold Cadillac I want to
ride in Lee Young Lester‟s brother d. 94 sober productive quietly distin-
guished career don‟t help whitey kill you (Dizzy Gillespie-Charlie Parker,
“Bird”)

Medical reports: bladder cancer

Pennsylvania, staph infection Mis-
souri, projectile vomiting Seattle,
tremors New Hampshire, liver
transplant problems Arizona, heart
attack New Mexico, pacemaker
installed Tennessee, depression
New Brunswick, possibly thyroid
cancer Oklahoma, possible multiple
sclerosis Arizona….

19
Life goes on…non Serbiam trip to Serbia
scrubbed to care for grandson while parents go
China adopt daughter ex can‟t come up to me
E stepping up beyond call confusion and joy at
once

Ten reasons to prefer Quebec City to Halifax:

10. Old Quebec walking city real character.
9. Suburbs hidden.
8. More and better restaurants, seafood ex-
cepted.
7. Things actually happened here besides dis-
asters.
6. When you become annoyed with locals, delight in the triumph of
perfidious English 1759 attacking wrong direction.
5. Music livelier than lugubrious Maritime howling.
4. Much better museums.
3. Tune out random conversations not knowing French
2. Really foreign country; Nova Scotia like America seen with squint.
1. More—and better—cleavage

20
Back in English: McDonalds box for
Angus burger “Make it Beef” com-
pared to Big Mac apparently they did

First prepay gas pumps just before

Quebec-Ontario border Maritime
clerks amused at offers to prepay
more evidence that it‟s like the US in
the 1950s

Customs Port Huron long line cur-

sory examination after agent had me
open SUV hatch gave up considering
luggage miscellaneous crap there we
could have unloaded in 10 minutes
having had lots of practice

First night in US compensated

horrible last night in Canada
(rampaging young teen lacrosse
team) friendly clerks plenty
space good breakfast obligatory
waffle iron cheerful blond tod-
dler delighted with world steak
house next door excellent
though one version drowned in
bleu cheese hanging offense
Southwest E asked if mush-
rooms fresh yes I knew better as did she quite soon

American men louder than Canadians any ethnicity mostly working age
rather than families/retirees we‟d grown used to back in real world USA

21
Maine license plate on semi tractor: “Semipermanent” maybe “Semi Per-
manent” more fun first way

Claim to fame Illinois 90th

degree of longitude “1/4
way around the world”
like claim elsewhere to be
halfway between equator
and north pole not unique
distinction be proud of
something makes no dif-
ference

Politics is local: “Save

Pontiac Prison”

Pittsfield IL Christian Broadcasting Network on the TV woman reading

newspaper Herald-Whig sounds like legacy but younger than I am last use
of Whig in America?

Boonville again my
brother arranging for
his son service my car
loan me one “You did
fix the brakes on that
didn‟t you?” clearly
I‟m home sister and
husband on 2-week
motorcycle trip despite
incomplete recovery in
spite of herself from
staph-caused abscesses
odd she‟s that stubborn
I say considering my
brother‟s and my malle-
able natures eyerolling
given run of house key in usual place brother-in-law‟s bathroom has cloth
strip bearing long disquisition on conduct life beginning “go placidly”
superfluous his case at least compared to us in sister‟s bathroom would
lead to snorting

22
 Death a family industry—brother‟s funeral
home has two services today another nephew
selling monuments so fast he has to take on
staff

Monday dinner problem locally owned restau-

rants closed Chinese always open dubious about
mid-Missouri Mexican (Southwest snobbery)
real Mexicans and E‟s $3.50 margarita cheap-
est/best in weeks wanted take-out good Italian
restaurant it and Mexicans have outdoor dining
unprecedented 87 Diner downhome has croissants
for sandwiches hypertrophied humongous still
croissants as well as chicken fried steak for break-
fast consoling locals

Dinner grocery store tabs convince her we could

live cheaply here maybe if we meaning she were
not more frugal we might have to move here oh

Man wanting to preserve old Katy railroad bridge

across the Missouri River argues it will become
tourist draw like Rushmore Coo-
per County crops must have be-
come really diversified roll your
own

Breakfast with brother truck stop

I-70 exit smoking section full
90% male brother well-known
called “Mr. Davis” by waitress
unironic did that start when he
became a funeral director and
began wearing white shirts I call
him pillar of community sand-
stone not granite he says still
pretty quick

23
Cars and trucks stacking up at my
nephew‟s muffler shop assistant
Black man rents from my brother
half of duplex our family lived in
1944-1946 provided barbecue fam-
ily reunion from trailer pulled be-
hind his truck billowing smoke
people following the smell like
Pied Piper

Sister-in-law: you two still speaking? yes tone varies always settles down
so far

Back in Oklahoma TV news peo-

ple unchanged 6 years look older
generally tireder rain all the way
from Missouri water standing in
the fields

First traffic Sun Lakes return fire

truck emergency vehicle making
run local street one of few places
when you see fire truck in front of
house hope it‟s on fire

24
What we bought:
Me: 2 shortsleeved shirts at a truck stop
4 t-shirts: Stax, Boonville Heritage Days, 2 at another truck stop
2 key-chains for kids
1 pocket tool kit with clippers, knife, file to replace those lost at various
security checks
x number of postcards—under a dozen
2 small notebooks in case I used up the ones I brought (didn‟t)
backup otc meds

She: 3 pair shoes (maybe)

numerous magnets (except Nantucket—screw Nantucket)
blouses
pillow to replace one left in New Hampshire
2 pr. reading glasses to replace 1 pr. lost, another broken
jellies/jams from B&B owner in Gagetown
18 bottles Canadian beer
God knows what else—small packages filled every available inter-
stice

Touchdown debriefing: sorting luggage, loose packages, unpacking, stor-

ing, collecting/ sorting mail, backed-up New Yorkers—bathroom reading
for months unfamiliarity of familiar

First reader sees pathos we don‟t need no stinking

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