I don’t know what happened. Felt a bit queasy on the way to work, but it was bearable. As the morning progressed several trips to the man’s room were called for. By 1:00 this afternoon I was done for. I didn’t see any point in trying to stay the whole day and planned to leave at 3:00, just so I wouldn’t have to deal with the rush hour rush. I told Wally this and he suggested that I just go home right there and then. I really couldn’t agree and gathered my things and made it out the door towards home.

Of course things wouldn’t go that easily. I got back to the bus terminal and found a 20-30 minute wait for the next bus having just missed one going past the gate. Some Indian dude came through the door and asked me what he should do since he was at his gate across the way and his bus pulled through without stopping or picking him up. I told him to go back to the gate and wait for the next one. He had about an hour to wait. I felt bad for him but there was really nothing I could do.

I decided to get off the bus at an earlier stop and go to CVS to get a new thermometer and a few other items that I needed. I ran into everybody’s friend, Martin Kelly once again and had a nice little chat. He told me about getting a call from his old friend, Jeff who is now in Oklahoma for some reason. Jeff was a nice guy and somehow got in touch with Charlie Charas who had told Jeff about this blog and tracked Martin down via an entry from a few months ago.

Interesting and not the first time someone used this blog to try and find someone. No one missing or exploited. Last time that happened was when some woman who had gone to school with someone I used to hang out with, Perry Didovetch. She wanted to know how Perry was doing and if there was a way to get in touch with him. Not having spoken to Perry in over 20 years I had no clue to his whereabouts. He violated a trust between us, concerning my coming out of the closet and after that Perry was persona non grata.

I came home after that and took my temperature which read as 96.2. Not so good. A low grade fever. I sent Wally and email stating my temperature and that I was going to bed. I didn’t sleep easy for 2 hours but it was needed. Now I am in this netherworld, not really awake and not really asleep. I do feel somewhat better and my temperature is now 98.2. An improvement for sure, not 100% but doing ok. Can’t sleep anymore, at least right now. Had a tuna sandwich and watching the news which of course is no good.

If Jeff reads this, Hello Jeff. What the hell, if Perry reads this…ahh fuck it.

Yes, you know what day it is. The sacred Hump day. Which of course, once again coincides with a Holy Day of Obligation, Ash Wednesday. I woke up, Bill awake already. He was so thankful that I had gone to the laundromat for him last night. It would have screwed up today considerably so I did him a humongous favor by doing that. That’s me, Mr. Nice Guy. Usually the guy at the end of the line, finishing last, but still I do what I do regardless of line placement. I don’t care, just a deposit in the Karma Bank.

Got another phone call today from my brother Frank. He was calling to let me know a neighbor from our old neighborhood passed away. Kay Benkovich was 88 years old. Her husband John B. passed away in the eighties I believe. She lived directly across the street from my family. Next door was a playground where we would play stick ball or punch ball if we couldn’t find a stick. Invariably the ball would fly over Kay’s fence and she’d never give the ball back until later in the year when the backyard would be cleaned. Sometimes the balls would come back all chewed up by Patches, their dog.

I never held any grudge against Kay. She always treated me fine and it was hardly ever my ball that would fly over the fence. I do recall one Christmas she had given me a toy, two plastic tubes, segmented inside with marbles inside. The point of it was to get the marbles from one end to the other. It was a simple toy and I was a simple boy. After my father passed away and we sold the house, I kept in touch with a Christmas card each year, carefully printing my name out in large letters so she wouldn’t strain her eyes. She’d always send one in return.

Work was the usual situation, data entry, special requests from President Naomi. They are impressed with my work ethic, something that really didn’t exist 20 years ago. At some point during the day, my old pal Miriam called up. I hadn’t seen Miriam in quite a while, maybe a year. She’s married now and due to have a baby on April 19. Miriam and I were buddies under the canopy of jazz cigarettes and a love of reggae music. We had gone to many shows together.

We also used to fight like cats and dogs. I met her when I was working at Skyline Studios where I was the receptionist and she was an assistant engineer. One time she was involved in a meeting where her attitude was called into question. She had quite a chip on her shoulder back then. After the meeting I busted her about the meeting and probably not busting her in a good way. She picked up a yellow Sony Tape recorder and threw it at my head. It missed and we went to our corners. Soon enough though we were smoking and listening to Burning Spear and hanging out with the Rastas again.

It was great to see her if only for fifteen minutes. The day started out with a death notice and ended with seeing Miriam and touching her belly with a baby inside. Here are some Miriam pictures.