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Gee, it's been raining here. Hard. The water level is fluctuating wildly as they open and close the gates, trying to let out just enough water to keep the lake within limits and still not flood people downstream. One year a few years ago they had a gate stick and flooded a lot of people on the lake out. They said that'll never happen again.
There are a lot of things happening here now. Due to the rain, I have been going out and actually socializing. There are several resturants in the closest town, just ma and pa joints, and one of them serves set-ups and lets you bring in your own whisky. Well, we're in a dry county, which is something anyone outside of Oklahoma or Texas knows nothing about. In short, this is illegal, but they seem to get by with it OK. And guess whose joint is the most popular? Yeah, you got it. Anyway, I've been hanging around in there a lot lately. I've never hung around anywhere before, and it's kinda neat. Get to know the waitresses and the cooks and everybody else in town. Originally, they were pretty stand-offish, or maybe I was. I'd just sit and drink my coffee and eavesdrop on everyone. After a while, people started to get used to seeing me and they'd say hi when they came by me. Everybody has a certain place that they sit in this joint. The only time they sit somewhere else is if someone is sitting where they usually sit. This only happens when the timing is off, or if someone comes in who doesn't understand the rules. If there is a real customer (foreigner) sitting in a regular's place, that regular will sit somewhere else, usually in another regular's chair. Then, when the other regular comes in, if the foreigner is gone, the first guy will assume his regular seat. If the foreigner is still there, the first guy will stand up and stretch and declare his intention to stand up awhile and stretch mah legs. Then the second guy will take his regular seat and the first guy will just stand around. I've just mentioned guys here so far. You might have noticed that. I think that the guys are all I'll talk about right now. A couple of these guys are alcoholics, but the rest of them are just there, like I am, for the company. And the company is good. None of these guys are geniuses, but they're all above average smart-wise, and hard-working gents as a whole. And really nice guys. A couple of them are church-goers, but they get laughed at when they bring the subject up. Most of them are retired, but there are some construction guys there too... they can't work in the rain, either. They are all married, and their wives seldom accompany them in the afternoons but they're usually there with them in the evenings. One of the construction guys is my neighbor, who I talked about here. We started out very tentatively, but we've developed a cautious friendship now. The first time I saw him in there I asked him how his dogs were doing, saying that I hadn't seen them around. He said that he'd been keeping them tied up, some crazy bastard might shoot them if he didn't. That pretty well broke the ice, we both got a laugh out of it and so did everyone else that was there. I hadn't told anyone that story, so I know that he had told everyone. Damn! I'm starting to feel like a real human! Well, a red-necked one, anyway...
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#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6
#7
#8
#9
#10
#11
#12
#13
#15