| Walter Wangerin Jr. & Outspoken |
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Dispatch #13
+ + + My throat continues sore--nearly a week, now--though not as intensely as on Tuesday. The pain increases at night, waking me upon a swallow. + + + Woolly worms have increased their migrations across the highways, all marked with some combination of black and burnt umber, some with the black saddle, some with the brown, some like apples dipped at either end in taffy: little critters each have individual distinctions. + + + Roadkill: --Frogs flattened in various postures of leap and landing: stretched legs, up-thrown arms, jaws skewed, white bellies showing, all the whole frog fixed in the contours of the shoulders of the road. --Butterflies, woolly worms, grasshoppers (legs extended), crickets, snakes. --sparrows, a goldfinch, swallows, starlings, a large white turkey. --Possums, skunks, raccoons, several cats, no dogs. (Yet.) --Deer. --Baseball caps of elaborate markings, underwear, T-shirts, bungee cords, bolts, gas caps, children's toys, scarves. --Beer cans, coke cans, coke cups, in western Wisconsin a remarkable number of cardboard casings for 24 cans of beer, a constant low (lowest) level advertising for McDonalds, Burger King, Wendy's, etc, etc: wrappings with bright logos ("Yes, here we lie; here is our ending; here are the conclusions of all we do: the roadside graveyard.") + + + Yesterday my son Joseph and his wife, my daughter-in-law Catherine Preus, cycled with me more than half the distance to Buffalo: such good company, such a comfort to an elder heart (too often anxious but sweetly eased by the nearness of family). We wound our ways first through greater Minneapolis (and I must declare how satisfying is city cycling; so is country cycling, indeed, but each has its own characteristics and challenges). Joseph rode an off-road bike with the large, lugged tires. That he stayed abreast with us on our swifter bikes is testament to his endurance. Moreover, Catherine and I have trained ourselves to the bike. She rides daily to and from her place of work, The Minneapolis Star Tribune, and you already know what I am doing. So Joseph threw himself into an unusual exercise ... and still made his lean body work hard enough to take the long hills. At about mile 20 we stopped for ice cream, sitting near our bikes at an concrete table outside. Bright sunshine, a blustering wind. I took the opportunity to call Thanne on the cell phone and to welcome her into our family outing. "Have you," she said as soon as I communicated where we were and that we were the three of us together; "Have you," she asked upon hearing the gladness in my voice and the excitement of the trip; "Have you wish them 'Happy Anniversary'?" It's a good thing I chat with Thanne from time to time, or how ever would I remember the dates of important events to honor them? Yes, and it was I who preached at the marriage of Joseph and Catherine a full (?) years ago.... When Joseph and Catherine saw a woman training her horse to the steeplechase--off the south side of the highway in a flat depression of land--they immediately discovered their turn-around point and waved me goodbye. Catherine loves and rides horses. They went down to greet the trainer (in every other respect a stranger to them) and to talk with her. And I rode on alone, glad for the experience. In about ten days Joseph and Catherine leave for a long global journey, working along the way to pay for the way: Australia, Ethiopia, Nigeria, France and other points in Europe. They won't be home again till the new year has begun. This bike ride had been a good goodbye. Walt |