Thursday afternoon: Easy does it

Tuesday afternoon
I'm just beginning to see
Now I'm on my way
It doesn't matter to me
Chasing the clouds away

Something calls to me
The trees are drawing me near
I've got to find out why
Those gentle voices I hear
Explain it all with a sigh

Okay, so today is Thursday and the Moody Blues song was about Tuesday afternoon. And I don't know that the lyrics have anything to do with my day, but the song came to mind and there it is. Make of it what you will. Maybe the gentle voices you hear will explain it all with a sigh. If so, you may want to talk to someone about that.

We had a great meal at the lunch for library volunteers. Several staff members were at our table and other people we know. At one point a volunteer whom I had not seen for some time came by and asked if I had finished writing my book. She was talking about a book I was writing some time ago, not the NaNoWriMo project. I told her I was doing National Novel Writing Month and that led to a discussion with one of the staff members who started writing this month and gave it up already. The former editor of the local newspaper was also at our table. She said she didn't see how you could write a novel in a month, and I explained far more than she could possibly have wanted to know about how it works. (Or doesn't work, as the case may be.) 

At any rate, Tom and I both had an enjoyable time, but he had to be somewhere at two. I had predicted that they would be done around one o'clock, but they had not even begun the speeches part at 1:30. I told the director that we had to be on our way and we escaped, Tom to the little railroad to help move some computers and me to Starbucks to write and to be amazed to see how, contrary to some reports, Christmas stuff is quite evident and clearly marked. 

Word count is now 40,010 and here are bits from today's effort. (This may be getting a little confusing for you because I am jumping around a bit in the story right now.)

“She gave me some advice. It was very helpful but part of it was to talk to Wayne. So I’m going to go do that. You stay here and practice with Billy Bob. Why don’t you teach him to say Katie?”

She grinned.

“I’ve been trying. No luck so far.”

“Keep at it, kiddo. He’ll catch on.”

I went into the living room. From the kids' bedroom I could hear Katie saying her name over and over.

Next thing I know, she’ll be teaching him to say Billy Bob wants a cracker, I thought.

I stepped out onto the porch to call Wayne. It was hot, but there was a breeze and in the shade it wasn’t too bad.

Pick up, Wayne, I chanted, hoping the magic words would get through. His phone rang five times and went to voice mail.

“Hey, it’s Wayne,” his message said. “Leave a name and number and I’ll be in touch. Easy does it.”

Wayne loved the slogans that the program had in abundance. Easy Does It was his favorite, which explains why it was on his phone message. But when he said it to me, he almost always amended it: “Easy does it, son. But do it!”