Here it is, Wednesday October 21,2026. How did we get here? It is another beautiful day but as I am on the 14th floor I really don’t know how it is on the street. The mental health day went well.

It is tied in with whatever virus is bouncing around the belly of the fruit stand. Yancy had it, Janis had it and Violet seems to have had it. But mine was not that, though they do not know that. I’m content to let them think about what they will.

Yancy just left a little while ago. Apparently at the fruit stand there was a former fruit picker trying to get access to the fruit stand once more. They are persona non grata and Yancy instructed me to hit the panic button should this troublesome creature make another appearance. Security measures may be tightened up, which would not be a bad thing.

Lunch is just a few minutes away. I’m not especially hungry right now and might just wait until I return from my lunchtime jaunt. That shouldn’t affect anyone but myself. A young rapper is visiting the fruit stand. His people are friendly and courteous. The young rapper is not. I will see him on his descent I’m sure.

Lunch was what it was, nothing special. I sat in the shadows, enjoying a small cigar. Spoke with Bill and spoke with Mike. Bill was about to eat lunch and I didn’t want to distract him from his meal, so it was brief. The phone call with Mike was a little bit longer but also brief. Last night I was on the phone with Mike for over an hour.

I may have crossed a line regarding the former fruit picker. I spoke with 2 of his former fellow pickers and think one of them called up Yancy who sent a text stating that it was best left private, someone who is possibly unhinged and perhaps dangerous should not be talked about.

Not a good situation and now I know to keep my mouth shut. I know what I said was not malicious fruit stand but it might have been taken that way. And that is a weird thing. Be on the lookout for a former coworker who might have a grudge against the fellow fruit pickers or the fruit stand itself.

Will there be grief? I expect so. Was I told not to say anything? No. If I was told to not say anything, I wouldn’t have. It was just a heads up in case this person shows up and I’m not here.

They have the data of knowing who the person is and what he looks like. I do not have that advantage. And I’m not always at the front and center of the fruit stand, like yesterday. So anyone could have let this person in and who knows what’s what. I can’t get hung up and fearful of what might or might not be said to me.

And so it goes.

It is a beautiful Tuesday in October. Today is the twentieth. I slept well and woke up feeling good. I decided to take a mental health day. Nothing major, I went back to bed and slept a few more hours and I woke up with no guilt. I think a mental health day, once a month could be a good thing.

The next scheduled holiday is in November, Thanksgiving. That is too far away. The days off I had were around my birthday that Friday and Monday around my birthday weekend.

There was a plan for Mike and I to meet at the mall after work. The trains to Hoboken were bound to be packed and my plan is to take the Jersey City train to Newport and walk from there. It’s only a fifteen minute extra walk. The mall where Mike wanted to go is at Newport so that would have worked out nicely.

Since I took the day off I figured we could meet earlier and do whatever Mike wanted to do. Unfortunately his sniffy parole officer called and told Mike that one of the parole officer’s clients was murdered and so all of the parole officer’s clients needed to be in lock down. This is not the first time this has happened, especially when plans are made.

Mike was upset about this, but like I said, it’s not the first time. Mike has to play the sniffy parole officer or other parole officer’s game until April 2028. I made some coffee and soon headed out to the supermarket to buy items I neglected to buy over the weekend as well as items that I found that I needed.

It was a nice walk, just a beautiful autumn day and I do not enjoy autumn. I don’t like winter either, now that I have gotten older. I do enjoy those times around the Christmas holidays which are generally filled with good cheer and tidings. After that it gets bleak, once in the settled new year. I’ve been doing this for quite some time.

Work has been good, no complaints. I don’t even mind having to go to the belly of the fruit stand. I’ve gotten used to it and I guess I am doing a good job. I haven’t heard otherwise but that is no sure sign.

I just got off the phone with Mike. An hour long phone call, broken up by a disconnect. I didn’t hang up and he didn’t hang up but the universe had heard enough I reckon. He loves asking me questions about work at the fruit stand and bold faced names I had encountered. It’s all true, I have no need to lie.

I’m sometimes dumbfounded by the fact that I met Mick Jones from the Clash outside the Waldorf Astoria, how I worked with Brian Eno which was a topic I was able to bring up when working with David Bowie a year later. Mike knew who David Bowie was, and he had heard of the Clash but he had no idea who Brian Eno was or what Brian Eno means to me.