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February 28, 2002 on 9:21 pm | In Blogger |

I’m rather tired today but thought I might make just this post, because today was kind of full, and I saw a lot.

Econ and math were the usual (though I’m still glad about our calc test getting cancelled until Monday). Well, Thatcher left during Econ to save his wife, who was stranded because she ran a flat tire. When he came back at the end of the period, he said, “Aren’t you ladies glad you have men to call when your tire gets a flat?” Someone called in the back, “yeh, that’s why we ladies just call AAA.” Then Thatcher got upset and told us that AAA just steals money, but people sitting around me disagreed wholeheartedly.

During journalism Mrs Madden asked me about the Gemma thing….I told her about it and what happened….then Jeff got some strange look on his face and immediately walked out the room, saying, “I’ll be back.” Mrs Madden got this look of terror on her face (I never saw her look so scared), and shouted, “No! Jeff! Wait!” and followed him outside. Everyone was staring and wondering what was happening, but I just told the rest of the class to drop it…she headed him off and I saw her talk to him through the classroom door’s barred window…I am still wondering what that was about, but I think I’ll just follow my own advice and drop it.

What a lovely afternoon! Jessie started this job at Allan’s, and Ms Caples wanted to help out with orientating her, and she and Jessie let me tag along. I rode along near downtown, to his office, which was fun.

Allan works in this big brown building past 22 Street for the largest metallurgy office in the US, probably the world. Have you ever been in one of those buildings where you have trouble believing that what you see outside can contain all that is inside? It is this sort of building in which Allan works. You walk inside and are in sort of this lobby, and you can see a staircase that leads to this semi-loft, semi-second story. You keep walking and go to this set-up of white leather couches, which is very comfortable indeed. Glass doors, one which leads to Allan’s office, one which leads to a conference room with a giant oak conference table, are on either side of the lobby.

If you choose Allan’s office you will find it is below the semi-loft, and though Ms Caples says is usually a mess, today it was pristine, by her standards. There were various binders and files sprawled along shelves and floors, and a giant desk toward the center. In the corner of Allan’s office is a chair almost exactly like Ms Caples’s (you know the teal leather chair next to her desk?), except this one was red. But I wasn’t really looking at the furniture or files—what I noticed were the photos, along the walls. Behind the chair was an adorable photo of Ms Caples, sitting in an armchair, holding a cat named Max, who she said she just loves. Max did look like a very amiable cat. Along the walls were also three or four photos of what seemed a small town by the sea…the town looked a little like a New England town, only it looked more set up on an island…the place was Britain, and Mrs Caples pointed out a particular house…why, it was their sea-house in the UK!

Allan’s secretary, Shannon, after showing us around the front area, brought us to this warehouse. “These are the murderers,” Ms Caples proclaimed as we walked in, and I looked at shelves upon shelves of what looked like ripped apart, blown up, dead tires. I noticed they all had the name “Firestone” inscribed on them, and I remembered how Ms Caples once said that Allan had something to do with Firestone. Jessie explained later that Allan was testifying as an expert witness on the whole Firestone thing…so, yeh, that actually explained quite a bit, about that entire warehouse. Can you imagine? All those exploded tires harming people in that matter…I don’t think I’ll ever quite forget those tires…some were more severe than others, but all looked like they hurt their owners, and I think that was what mattered.

The rest of the tour looked like any regular office, with file rooms and computers…a random office here and there…it was all the usual office-stuff. A man from Kentucky worked in one office; and the man upstairs seemed nice too; his brother was one of Ms Caples’s students.

When we came downstairs we ran into Allan. He was short and refined and very polite—a typical British man. He said little and spoke softly, but whenever he did say anything, it had meaning. He seemed very loose about Jessie’s job, seeming to be happy with whatever made the rest of the office happy—as a boss should be. I thought he and Ms Caples acted really cute together, too.

We had to stop at Ms Caples’ house, and she invited us in for a few minutes. Her home is lovely; the neighborhood is from the 1930s. It’s actually rather close to where Allan works, so I imagine Ms Caples must make quite a drive each morning/afternoon. The house itself looks a little small from the outside, but it’s a charming kind of small, like something out of a fairy tale. And, again, it was much larger from the inside. The entire set-up has a very English tint to it, with fluffy rugs and handsome furniture throughout the entire house. I’m not sure if I can quite explain the interior—let’s just say it is beautiful, charming, and full of love. There are cats throughout the house—one is very shy, another is very friendly, and the third we could not find. Also throughout the house are bookshelves—in that aspect it reminded me a bit of my own house, because we’re big readers here, too. Ms Caples apologized about the mess, but honestly I couldn’t even tell.

Well, I’d type more but so far I’m sure I’ve bored you all, so I will leave now. Later.

The dust storm has cleared up, somewhat. Reluctantly, the dust storm is slowly leaving the valley and moving back the the wretches of the great desert it has come from.

The other night I had a dream. I do not remember anything about the dream, not a thing visually, not a thing even in terms of taste, touch, smell. All I remember was, I was dreaming. I dreamed I was perfectly happy~