smooth

GRAVEL

12.  I stopped at a bookstore to buy Wednesday's New York Times so I could give the "Dining In, Dining Out" section to my friend Daryl, who's a lead chef at Bette's Oceanview Diner. Everyone's a lead chef there, everyone's a boss. That's the genius of the place. As I presented my paper and three dollars to the clerk at the bookstore, she said, "Every day!" That's not exactly true; actually, it's not the truth at all, because Wednesdays do not constitute "every day." I let it slide, even though it's one of life's small disturbances. After breakfast I went home, wrote the preceding page of smoothgravel.com, then went to my room, where I conked out. The part of me that sleeps and dreams in the late afternoon often helps me with these small disturbances. "// ../ /.. ../ .// ..// //... /// .../ /.. /. /. Out to destroy what you've destroyed before! // .. ./ ..../ /... ../ /./ .../ // ..... /. ... /," a whisper voice said as I was on the brink of sleep. A second whisper voice answered, "//.. .//. .../ /./ /./.. ./. /./. //. /.. /./ ... Something different //. /. // ...// .../ //. .../ /../ /. ..../ // ..." On the way home I'd stopped to help a little boy climb off a wall, to the beaming appreciation of his older sister and mother. "He's so nice!" I heard behind me. Well, who wouldn't help a child? I woke up and found the index card where I'd written the exchange between the whisper voices before I'd completely fallen asleep and made a slight adjustment to my main website, taxi1010.com, to include "Something different" as a 2nd choice in the 12th stargate. Now when someone lies, "Every day!" I'm quite prepared to set things a little straighter.