Late Fees

It's a beautiful day in New England. It's sugaring time. That's when all of us, even if we can't tell a maple tree from an ash tree, get to say - "oh it's good sugaring weather" with a sense of pride and self rightous yankiness. The truth is, good sugaring weather is just plain good weather. Clear sky, sunny during the day, so if you are doing any physical activity at all, you are comfortable in shirt sleeves, but if you want to sit on the porch and drink coffee, you need a heavy sweater. Then the nights are clear and cold, like 20's cold, not sub zero. That makes for great sleeping. So when you can wander through the general store with a 50 pound bag of bird seed slung on your shoulder, and catch three diffrent conversations about how the sap is running, it's a really good day. Even if you are poor. Even if you are seperated, even if you have no idea what the next phase of your career might be. ...but then maybe you stop in the video store to grab a movie for your kids. When you check out with your movie which is not a new release because they are too expensive, and the multiply pierced clerk says, "You have 13 dollars in late fees". You raise your eyebrows in a "how is that possible?" kind of way, and he lists a bunch of movies you've never seen. That's when it dawns on you..."oh yeah, I'm seperated. My husband watched all those while he's been baching it at his new pad, and then forgot to return them." So, had an american cross section today; New England maple sugar time, and the mid western divorce surprise bonus at the movie store. Lucky me.