Sunday, April 4, 2010

I seemed to have a hundred projects going on all at once. Of course I didn't, but it seemed like that. I had juggled more than one case and hundreds of threads within each one, but this juggling was different somehow. The murder cases didn't really involve me. I was sure I could get everything in my life to come together but how and when were questions I couldn't answer. Plus there was the nagging thought in the back of my mind, what was the end of it all anyway. I mean there was just me, why was I bothering with any of it. Why not just lay down and sleep my way to the grave.

The only answer I could come up with was that it was the struggle that made life worth living. I supposed that twenty odd year on the line had warped me. Then again I saw other men my age walking the same trail or puttering in their shops all around town. Men who presumably could have squeeked by on their pensions as well as I. I again decided to stop thinking about it, and just get on with living whatever part of my life was left.

I spent a couple of more days reading about this and that on the Net. I even watched a couple of newer released movies. I found that not having gone to movies for the last ten years didn't seem to matter at all. They were still making the same movies, the only difference being that the faces in them had changed. They were still cowboy movies, even if the bad guys wore gold chains, and the good guys wore suits.

In the new movies they had Turf wars instead of range wars. Good and evil were still the motivations, even if the lines were a little gray. They had always been gray, just ask Tom Horn, when you get to where ever he is spending eternity.

Aside from the net I continued to walk. I was getting to know people on the trail. Okay it was just enough to say hi and smile, but they at least smiled back. At one time they had run like hell. I expect it was because unlike them, I wore work clothes for my walks. I just wasn't the track suit type. Most of the real fashion types walked at the mall, so I was only mildly out of place on the trail. However, I stood out like a Baby Ruth bar in a punch bowl at the mall.

I found that on those mornings when I ate it by the lake I felt more at peace with the world. I decided that the extra protein and fat from the biscuit accounted for it. Although It was probably combination of the lake and the animal fat, rather than either one in and of itself. It was on one of those, alls well with the world, morning when the camera finally arrived.

Since I still didn't have any chemicals, I put my efforts into doing the very slight modifications to it. I didn't have to do them, but to use the camera with a film holder and still make full size negatives, the guides from the roll film needed to be removed. I could shoot a smaller sized negative but I wanted as much negative as I could get. It would help keep the negative's sharpness just in case the lens wasn't as good as the author had claimed.

The camera modification was simple. I just removed the roller and the roll film guide from the take up area. There was nothing to it. Twenty minutes after I got the camera in the mail, it was ready to go. I realized then that I would need to pick up a better light meter. The camera came with one which had been sold with the camera, but it would never read lower light situations.

It also had the funky exposure readings used only by Polaroid at that time. Still knowing what they were equal to in modern settings, and knowing how to figure how to use them in low light, made the camera very usable indeed. The fact that just anyone couldn't do it, added to it's appeal.

I had the peanut butter jar tank, I had the camera and it had been modified, the next thing I needed was to make the cardboard film holders. I had decided to give them a try as well as the film directly in the back method. The paper holder would allow me to load the camera in the daylight and just remove the film in the dark bag. I thought it might be easier to get the film aligned in daylight. the negative size would be the same either way.

Since the cereal box film holder required that I cut the film to 3 1/2 by 5, I made myself a film jig, so that I could cut the film in the dark bag. I willed the chemicals and film to arrive quickly so that I could begin my tests. It seemed that God didn't listen to me, since the postman didn't ring at all. It wasn't that I was bored, it was more that I loved a challenge.

Molly came while I was making cereal box film holders. "Mr. Abba, I was wondering, if you would mind, if Misty and I had a party. The summer school term is ending this next week and we would like to have some friends over."

"Okay, but lets set the ground rules. I will try to be as liberal as possible and you try to work with me. Everything is negotiable."

"We thought we might have ten or so people over. If we do, it is going to spill over into the yard. Misty said that she would cut the grass, if you hadn't already done it by then."

"Well It might grow back, even if I have cut it. You two can do any yard work or decorating you would like, but if you decorate, it comes down the next day."

"Okay, we can do that. How about music? We will probably want to dance."

"The law says music after 11pm has to be confined to your own home. In other words it can't be loud enough to be heard in the street. I can live with that, but all noise has to end by 2AM." If you guys want to set around a talk after 2AM in normal voices, I'm cool with it."

"They should all be gone by 2," Molly stated.

"I know you are over the age necessary to purchase alcohol, but do not dispense it to minors. If one of them gets in trouble afterward, you are all screwed. You don't need a criminal record if you want to work for the city."

"We know that and yes there will be minors but we will be careful."

"Let your drunks sleep it off on the floor."

"I hope their won't be any drunks but okay."

"I will inspect for damages the next day. If there are any I will have them repaired and you will pay the bills."

"How about cleaning and painting can we do that?"

"Sure, I'm talking about holes in the walls. Burns in the carpet anything like that."

"Mr. Abba we are not talking about a drunken brawl here." Molly said seriously.

"Very few people plan for that, but they do sometimes evolve into it. You have the perfect excuse, if you want to use it. Your landlord lives next door."

She smiled. "So would a week from Friday be cool with you?"

"One day is as good as another," I replied.

That same afternoon, I picked up the tee shirts with the lightening bolt logo. They looked just stupid enough to be a struggling courier outfit's uniform. I didn't want to look too prosperous.

I got a chance to use the tee shirts the very next day. Susan called to inform me that she had three more cease and desist court orders to serve. Susan did mostly divorce and civil law cases, so there would be a never ending supply of 'stop what ya doin' court orders to serve. I could live with the three a week thing.

Since I wasn't doing anything else I drove over to pick up the orders. They all were in Williams and all were businessmen. Since none was a divorce, I didn't expect any trouble. I was almost right in my thinking. Two of them were gracious about the cease and desist orders. They had been expecting them and probably had already done whatever they needed to do in advance.

One of the orders did turn out to be a bit different. First of all the guy looked like a snake oil salesman. He wasn't expecting the court order and summons to come from a courier dress so casually. He accepted it and I took his picture holding the envelope with a cheap digital camera. Unfortunately taking the picture gave him time to open the envelope.

I made it out the door before he came out to explain how innocent he was. I had the great pleasure of saying, "Sir, I doubt that you are innocent, none of us really are. Also I just don't give a fuck." I thought for a second that he was going to hit me, but reason won out.

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