.. .. .. ... .. ... .. ... .... ... ... . ... ... .. ... .. . ... .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ... .... ... ... . ... ... .. ... .. . 4:47pm I'm sitting on a bench - literally - at the great you better bow before all the shopping here King of Prussia Mall, reading a story on my phone about the Venus transition passing between our earth and the sun, and for some reason I look up. And there, about 30 feet from me, in the center of one of the big intersections of the mall, is this bald guy. The Mall is dream sequence empty. Or this corner of it is. And this guy, in green shorts and sneakers, is just standing there, all alone. So I say to him, "Are you looking for Foot Locker?" Yes I am, he says. Pause. How the hell did you know that? I ignore him. "It's all the way at the end of that crossway, down on the first floor." Thanks, he says. But how the hell did you know that? And like, what am I supposed to do, not help him? I'm old enough to know the answer. I'm old enough. It should no longer be a mystery. It shouldn't. And it certainly should no longer freak me the fuck out. It shouldn't. Well, freak isn't accurate. Spook me. In the moment it feels totally normal ... but eventually ... how the hell did you know that? Like a reentry vehicle, eventually I seem to always run out of heat shield. Houston, please verify reentry vector. You tell the man the condition of his spacecraft. I'm old enough to know. Old enough, yes. Wise enough ... tgd

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This post wasn't rhetorical, nor an exercise in false modesty. I do not know how I knew. That whole quadrant of thought (the mind self-verifying its own knowledge) in my experience often offers far more damage than healing. The truest thing about the post, in the end, was the graphic. There was a moment of touchstone when I asked him about his destination (ha, nothing significant there, eh?), but it was eventually followed by the return to earth and scorched flameout.

Anyway, probably said far too much already. Perhaps I should not have even posted the episode, but I did it this time, purely selfishly. I'll own that.

Thanks for writing.

tgd

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I try, but as I say, the reentry is killing me.

tgd

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thanks for your support

tgd