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ON_THE_ISLAND


                                              February 14-15, 2007

                                       VILLON

Back at the old Brenner homestead, my
brother, Villon, and his wife (and two      They're raising a crop of
kids, now in their mid-twenties) are        some truly enormous cats,
living the life they're accustomed to.      half-way to being leopards.

  My brother returns home from                 One of them -- when feeling
  work every day, and begins strumming         ignored -- does death-defying
  the guitar, watching the computer's          ten foot leaps from shelf to
  screensaver do a random slide-show           cabinet to refrigerators
  of a large stash of family photos.
                                                   Nora and her brother
            I mention that the                     Nick like to hang out
            random display seems to                up near the ceiling, on
            be becoming mostly cat                 top of the highest
            photos.  They look                     cabinets.
            guilty about it.

                                           His wife's sister
                                           comes over for
                                           "band" practice:
                                           two harmonicas with
                                           his guitar... they
                                           work on Xmas carrols,
                                           until they accuse each
                                           other of making too
                                           many mistakes and
                                           split up "forever"
                                           in a huff.

                                               (I gather that's the
                                                way they end every
                                                practice session.)


    There's not a lot to like
    about "Huntington Station"
    (near the middle of the        MAULED
    island, as opposed to
    the downtown "Huntington"
    on the north shore), and
    certainly I complain about
    it enough... but a pretty
    excellent thrift shop has         Where Dangerbaby once
    opened up over on the             scored a reflective silver
    corner                            jacket, and I found
                                      a really good shakuhachi
       We were desperate for          record.
       for food at one point,
       and I was suggesting
       we take a chance on
       a random little chinese
       place across the street.

       As we get closer to it,
       Dangerbaby notices the
       hand-written signs of
       an even smaller Jamaican
       place next to it, named
       "Dudley's".

   We poke our heads in the door
   and glance at the tiny scribbled
   menu on a white board.

   Dangerbaby gets excited, points,
   jumps up and down...

             And the guy in the back
             behind the counter breaks         Excellent curried
             out into a big smile -- he's      goat.  Enough for
             "Dudley" (actually, more          two with leftovers
             like "duhhd-le, mahn"),           to pass on to my
             which explains the name of        nephew.
             the place. He and Dangerbaby
             talk about Jamaica.               We mention Dudley back at
                                               home.  My brother's wife,
                                               despite being a hard core
                                               vegetarian, knows the guy
                                               well: they often talk at the
                                               laundromat next door.





Also in Huntington, we
once again touch base
with Walter Big, one              BIG_WALTER
of my old high school
gang who never really
left the old neighborhood.

    We go to the Other Greek
    restaurant in Downtown
    Huntington -- I always favored
    the original, the Mediterranean,
    which kicked off a small Greek          We talk of many and
    craze in that area -- but this          various things, global
    "newcomer" is not at all a bad          warming evidence,
    place, and I guess I'm willing          Richard Dawkings and
    to cut them some slack for              so on, finishing up
    directly competing with my old          with me ranting about
    fave on their home turf,                probability and the
    considering that this crime is          Gambler's Fallacy,
    three decades old by now.               with some side trips
                                            into a defense of
                                            illegal immigrants.


On our way out of town, we
lug the luggage down to the
corner bus stop... and the
bus we needed blew by just
a moment before we got there.

  Hanging around at the bus
  stop, debating the next
  move... I looked over in
  the window of the service
  station -- this was bought
  by a friend of mine soon
  after he got out of high
  school and I wondered if --

  Someone inside waved
  in the gloom,
  and the man himself came        I mention a mutal friend,
  running out to say hello...     who had come out to
  for the first time in a         California to do the hike
  few decades.                    up Half Dome --

                                  He was impressed to hear
                                  the guy was still hiking --
                                  I recommend Half Dome to
   Before running back            him highly and he comments
   in he comments:                "When am I going to get there?    And *that*
                                  I'm serving a life sentence       is Long
   "So what are you               here."                            Island,
    building out there?"                                            for you.
                                       SUCKING_VORTEX
     "Websites,
      I guess."                                            One of my
                                                           nieces mentioned
                                                           when she was
   We flag down a cab,                                     in high school
   and take the train                                      she would
   into the city.                                          sometimes wear
                                                           a pentagram.

                                                           They would
                                                           say: "I didn't
                                                           know you were
                                                           Jewish."



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