Well - Part X

All good depressions must come to an end and I began to feel much better as I tooled around the familiar environs of my hometown. I cruised out to the local shopping mall on the outskirts of town. In doing so it was fun to be wandering around noting all the changes to the downtown area, the busy store fronts and traffic pattern changes that lead out to the main arterial highway leading to the mall.

I was listening to tunes and latched onto a string of reggae music that was both uplifting and got the toe tapping, head nodding motions going. I think it was a combination of the music and the old/new surroundings that allowed me to focus on what is good and promising in the world around me.

Arriving at the mall, I picked up a hot pretzel and chomping on that while I was looking for a clothing store to pick up a new shirt for that night. I noted the changes internally to the mall and the store selection. I tooled on into one of the larger shopping malls when I ran into Robert Grey, another old classmate.

“Bobby…how goes it?”

“Well, they’ll let just about anybody in here on a Saturday won’t they.”

“Only if they promise to buy something it seems.”

We exchanged a few more banal amenities then moved along to our individual pursuits. I selected a couple of shirts, made my purchase then moved on back out to the car. On the way back, I started reminiscing about high school times. I remembered gazing longingly across the cafeteria in Cheryl’s direction. I noted what she wore on a regular basis and during lunch time, she always seemed to be engaged in conversation with the same two or three girlfriends. I always thought I was pretty good at hiding my glances or covering up my casual interest but, according to our last conversation, I must have tipped my hand once or twice as she said that she knew I had a crush on her.

The crush couldn’t have meant much back then as neither of us felt compelled to act on it and here were 10 plus years out of high school and actually now socializing (or rather we are planning to socialize at least for this one date). I wondered when/where she took notice of my interest.

Since I had a couple of hours to kill before I was to pick her up, I decided to stop in at one of my old haunts, a bar that a lot of my group hung out in for witnessing sporting events and to wind down at night when the need arose. The establishment was called the “Rec Room” back then and I noted a name change when I pulled into the familiar parking lot. The new owners apparently were perhaps shooting for a slightly older clientele when naming the establishment the “Blind Squirrel.” There was a cute saying underneath that “even a blind squirrel can sometimes find a good nut.”

As I walked across the entranceway and approached the bar, I noted that there were very few folks gathered at the bar. It seems most of the current patrons were engrossed with a
TV broadcast airing on a large screen over by the pool table area. In fact I stood at the bar looking for service in vain for a number of minutes before my curiosity and thirst caused me to wander over to the edge of the crowd to see what was going on that was so captivating.

The scene that was being captured on the TV was from a news broadcast. It seems that something was either just announced or being discussed. It looked like a press release but I couldn’t quite make out what was transpiring. I asked some one at the edge of the crowd what was going on.

“They just announced that we were attacked in Alaska. The president is saying its an act of war is sending troops to the North Country to ward off an invasion by the Chinese.”

“Are they attacking us or Canada”

“Both it seems.”

I would later learn that an invasion force had landed in Alaska and that the Chinese were seeking to claim Alaska for its own. I guess they were interested in harvesting the oil reserves up there. According to the same gent, the Canadians have already responded by sending in troops to the area but it seems the Chinese have made great strides already and had claimed control of the state capital.