GARGOZO MANUSCRIPT

Image from delucainsight.com I asked the woman ringing up my groceries, “How can that be?” Normally I pay no attention to the check stand that displays what you owe for the items as they cross the scanner.  However this morning I did catch out of the corner of one eye the figure $15.37.  This seemed odd because I was certain I hadn’t picked out anything that would cost that much.  I looked down to see the woman lowering into a bag the six apples I had picked out. She said, “What?” I said, “Those are apples not tri-tip.” She said, “Yes dear, but those are Honeycrisp apples, $3.96 a pound.” I said, “Do they come with a prize inside?” When I had left the house to go to the market I had been instructed on my way out the door to:  “get some fruit.  Remember, I like those Honeycrisp apples.” After I paid for my groceries I walked back to the produce section and discovered that the Honeycrisp apples not only cost more that the tri-tip (on specia...

Umbeck called from Indiana yesterday.  It had been a couple of years since we last spoke.  Things are perfectly fine between us; the gap in communication is because we are both now at an age where we put off calling for fear of finding out the other has passed away.   The first time I met Umbeck was in the early 1960s when I walked into his freshman dorm room at Occidental College .  It was a demonstration of just how fiendish fate can be.  Umbeck had been paired up with Heger and the room was a testament to what happens when you throw together two all-or-nothing characters.   The Bell Young dorm rooms were typical of institutional housing.  Every room was an identical prison-cell-like cube with a window and all the charm of a cardboard box.  Umbeck and Heger managed to transform theirs into the Tiki Lounge at Don the Beachcomber. Once you pawed your way through hanging glass-bead curtains you were completely surrounded by bamboo ...