Halloween night and I ran into an old school mate. A long time ago I went to a school for one semester 50 miles south of Pittsburgh. And I befriended a guy through friends of friends who was studying so that he could go to optometry school. He went through all the identity problems that most 20 year old college students go through. I remember him at one point in the semester threatening to drop out of school and join an apprenticeship program for plumbing. Then I think he came to his senses and realized that staying in school was easier than getting a real job. I remember a skinny blond wench that he was fond of came to the conclusion that I had an inferiority complex after taking one course in psychology. I remember being so enlightened by her observation about me that I did smile and was delighted by her opinion of me. Hey maybe standing next to the mountains and the river that surrounded the school, maybe I did feel inferior. Anyhow I had not seen either of these people in twenty years. And here it was Halloween night and I am buying a few things at the grocery store. And the man who was not sure if he wanted to be an optometrist or a plumber is walking towards me. And all the nonverbal things that people do to act like we do not recognize ghosts from the past, give us away. When he realized I knew him he looked like hunted prey. We did our best to avoid each other at the check-out line. It was late and I was tired but your past sometimes catches up to you. I remember him telling me that he came from a town in Pennsylvania that had a state penitentiary. At least he got the hell out of that town. But here he was in a grocery store in Pittsburgh on Halloween night dressed up like a doctor like he had just come from a costume party. He reminded me of the doctor in Anton Chekov’s story “House with a Mansard”. Crazy things always happen to me on Halloween. Even when I just go to the grocery store late at night after work on Halloween night. My old friend was taking a long look at me in the parking lot, because I was doing my best to act like I did not know him. What is there to say after twenty years? He looked lost. I was tired. What would Che Gueverra do in this situation? Hey maybe one day freedom will ring when all the work is done.

I took a couple of days off from work. And me and Laura went to a park in the northern part of the city. That has a lake and we rollerbladed twice around the lake. Each lap was 5 miles. It was a gorgeous Indian summer day and all the leaves were changing colors. I had to study the lake from a couple of vantage points, skating on the hills above the lake. The water was serene. And I had to stop at the damn where the water was spilling over into a big concrete basin before falling down into a stream below. The water and the sun were mesmerizing. There were a few bikers and some young mothers pushing their young kids around the lake in strollers and wagons. One older guy was sitting on a picnic table with a muffin a big coffee and a newspaper. I liked his approach to the park. There were a few people fishing in the lake. And I was loving life. By the time we finished rollerblading we were pretty hungry and thirsty. So we found a bench hidden behind a bunch of trees and sunned ourselves in the autumn light. I had bought 8 liters of orange Gatorade at the dollar store. And I mixed one of them fifty with water. Then we cracked out the yogurt and grains. And washed them all down with Gatorade. Laura had to hear me preach for the millionth time: I said I eat once a day for health and twice for pleasure. And I said nobody should bother eating unless they are really hungry. One of these days I think that she is going to kill me for repeating myself so much. But the simple meal did hit the spot. And we did not have to stand in line to buy food at some damn chain restaurant that are so prevalent around the park. On the way home we passed the pretzel shop and I had to stop and buy some of those big fat soft pretzels that they make in the Southside. The kind that some people put mustard on. They have the same consistency of a bagel only with the addition of salt. This is the kind of treat that you can eat, even when you are not hungry. I can never pass the pretzel shop without buying some pretzels. After munching on pretzels we went to the Goodwill store to look for some used furniture that I can put in my finished basement apartment. I am really pleased that the floor paint that I put down there is holding back the little water leakage that occurs in some basements after it rains. I want to furnish it really simply because it is only a basement apartment. Ah, yes living underground. Now that I have the basement done. I’m wondering if I can build some kind of structure in the back yard to maybe use as an emergency bathroom. I was thinking about building an earth ship shed. I could dig down into the hillside and use old car tires for structural and insulated walls. I read a book about houses made this way. You put dirt in between the tires for support, and insulation. I always like to have a backup plan. The two upstairs tenants could always use the basement bathroom, if I was at work or away and there own bathrooms were broken. The extra bathroom would give me time to fix theirs. But now if I decide to rent out the basement apartment, I will have to build some kind of structure in the backyard to put an extra bathroom. That way if one of the tenants have a problem with theirs, I can offer them another option until I get around to repairing the problem. I’m not sure how the neighbors will take to me building a structure with automobile tires for walls. Hell if I build the damn thing large enough I could probably live in it. I could run one electric circuit out for lights and put a composting toilet in the back. I guess I will never stop dreaming about not working for anybody else and get down to the business of working for myself. We all work so much harder for ourselves than for other people.