Last night Dick Vajs called to see if
we were home, then came by the house to visit.
He brought some pickles and
sauerkraut he put up out of his garden and a pint of honey from his bees, in West
Virginia.
Some years ago his company manufactured some minesweeping equipment
for the Navy base, and now, it's cheaper to hire him to repair it than it is for
people from the base to work on it, so he gets hired by the base, comes down for
a spell, and does the work. Then goes back to West Virginia.
He wanted to
hear how my weekend in Philadelphia went.
* * *
I told him I had a good time and met some nice people.
He said he
liked the way I wrote and hoped the book went well.
He said I was a good
writer, and it was only a question of time, before I broke through to a wider audience.
Not only is my current readership low, but my expectations are low, too, so anything
positive that happens is a pleasant surprise.
* * *
I inscribe a copy of Bukowski Never Did This for him, "There
from the beginning."
He was reading my books in manuscript in 1975,
and laughing about our co-workers, whom he recognized, in the books.
* * *
We were both Bukowski fans, back then.
* * *
I'm thinking about the next two books I'm going to write, what shape they'll
take. I start writing them as soon as I get back from Georgia. But I'm thinking about
them now.
Tomorrow afternoon I pick up the rental car.
Saturday morning
early we leave.
* * *
I'm looking forward to our trip.