In the Dark

Wrung from sleep by the baying of hounds. I hate them, as a matter of course, because I haven't been sleeping well. Bad dreams and wild dogs. They've treed a coon over by the graveyard, and they're so goddamn insistent. I'm within a gnat's ass of suiting-up, grabbing the shotgun, and settling scores. I don't, because it would be too much trouble, and the ticks are already bad. I get two or three off my ankles every day. Seed Ticks, we call them; very small and aggressive. I scrape them off with the tip of my knife, crush them, with the tip turned flat, and wipe the site with alcohol. Usually, when the dogs show up, I throw some rocks, bare-foot on the back stoop. I might go get a dram of that creosote whiskey, to celebrate my victory (history, of course, might see this differently), and roll a smoke. I think I'm probably full of shit, whatever I might say, at least I can still admit it. Well shed of extraneous crap. Cut to the chase. New bosses mean a different set of choices. Do they want to center at 57 inches? We can negotiate. Perfectly willing to cut some slack. Reading is just as hard as writing. Wait, no, writing is harder. Dialog at the museum, about the coming changes. Just before lunch Kate brought an art history class over from the University, she wants me to talk with, then read for a group of Chinese students next month. They're all from a Teacher's College in southern China, and all are going to be teaching English. They're actually going to pay me for this, they should have asked, I would have done it for nothing. Docent a group of Chinese students through the art of being a hermit. I hope this is what Asa meant by me using my time more effectively, because I'll be doing it on company time. And getting paid, did I mention that? Kim on Monday, with his new Ferrari hat, the 2013 race car, a perfect 3' replica, that he wears at the race (F1, Montreal) as if he were a normal person. I'd like to display these car-model/hats, if the new directors saw fit. Sara surprised me when she said Thirteen Nudes And a Catfish was a great title for the Carter show of drawings. And we talked about a still-life show, you should remember. Rachel.