Data Breach

Interesting phone call from someone who wondered if I was the Tom Bridwell that wrote Ridgeposts. I admitted I was, and decided to chat because I wasn't doing much anyway. Overcast and very quiet outside, cool and still. I had an extra cigaret rolled (my phone cig) and had just rolled one, I had a drink. I was reading a book, but I had a bookmark. The guy is Daniel, Portland, Oregon; he'd been reading me for a while and realized I'd be pretty easy to track down. He advised me to lose the land-line, but I explained the situation. He'd run into the GPS anomaly, Kim and I had talked about it, but that it wasn't difficult to figure out, more or less, exactly where I lived. During one of the phone-line sagas I actually gave accurate distances, it's the only driveway within a large target area. More important though, is that I do have a land-line and am in the book. Still, I'm so remote, everyone would advise you announce your presence with a yodel if you didn't want to get shot in the ass with rock salt. Much safer to call from Oregon. It was a fun conversation. I think I may be his thesis. He asked good questions and I answered mostly truthfully. I told him I'd send him some books and that in the future he should call on Sunday mornings, when I'd normally be drinking coffee and listening to NPR. Otherwise, I don't do anything but eat and read. It takes me a day, after a visit from a close friend, to re-assess and consider. Reading calms me. I can't or don't go off on my various fantasies with most people, during mundane exchanges it would only confuse the issue, muddy the waters, and I'd rather explain something to someone who might understand. Or at least appreciate the effort. So expounding my theory of the inter-national tin trade during the bronze age requires a certain amount of effort. Bringing things to bear: information, the physical load, emotional baggage, a shopping list, commas. I need a break, so I read pulp fiction and imagine warm sand between my toes. I could be on a cruise, I could be teaching in Prague, I could be sweeping the floor in Bloomington. The ridge is my current keep, no palisade, no moat, but I do control the high ground with a potato canon, and I could always release my marble collection and make the footing impossible. Mostly, I need a few hours sleep.