Truman

It's around the time I decided that I only wanted to hang around people who are positive that I stopped seeing Howard.

Tina is fat. What is it about fat people that they always have such beautiful voices on the phone?

When I told Oscar the bartender that I wanted my martini stirred, not shaken, he said I was the second person that night who'd made such a request and that it was rare.

While visiting Aunt Lois in the nursing home, I observe how old people like to be alone. After dinner, which they take together in the dining room, each one of them returns to their room like they can't wait to get there, like the room is a shell or a nest which id not only their house but has become the best part of them, as if each one of them truly believe their aloneness might be protecting them from harm. At least this is how it looks to me.

My next door neighbor, Ljudmila, is German. She speaks good English and uses the phrase, "don't get me wrong" over and over after she's had a glass or two of white wine. Ljudmila has three children--1, 3, and 5--and her husband is named Hanno.

Sometimes this country breaks my heart, especially early in the morning when it seems like everyone's on the road going somewhere important. Then the whole country of where I am feels to me like a warrior putting on his uniform, and being proud of the way it fits.

Last night on C-Span, a historian said that Harry and Bess Truman drove away from The White House in a Chrysler convertible the day Harry's Presidency ended. I like that little story a lot and believe that it has the added advantage of being true.