2004-04-29 - 3:30 p.m. I have felt, all day, like I am living in a Stephen King novel. Lunch today in a church courtyard up the street from my office, brilliant green and purpleness afoot, flowers all around. Two spooky-pretty little girls (5 y.o., I'm guessing) are making a "salad" out of the foliage and show it to my lunch companion and me. "It's poison salad--to kill the ghost!" And they natter on about the ghost in the courtyard and how he must die for all time because he is a pest who steals all the crackers and juice, and the occasional toy. They advise us to stay away from the school they go to, across the courtyard, because it is "evil", and one girl suggests we write that bit of advice down on a piece of paper and look at it everyday. Which is weird, because that's exactly the sort of thing I do. After lunch, we happen on a cute li'l Maltese roaming the sidewalk aimlessly. We check his tag--he lives on the block. We attract the attention of a cardigan'd, gruff but benign elderly man (who could easily play the part of Elderly Man #2 in a Twilight Zone ep.) who is incensed that someone would let their dog wander around by himself, and he joins our party. We return the dog to the address on his tag, by simply opening the front door of the ground floor apartment and tossing him in. His guardian comes to the door, pokes her head out and says, nonchalantly, "Oh...thanks!" thoughts? (4 comments so far) previous - next blog archive contact