Exiled #42 Is Out, A Fandom Yawns
- Friday evening, I was returning from the YMCA and from picking up some Chinese takeout. I got to the back door of my building (my apartment is in the back of the building) and was fumbling for my keys when suddenly a guy appeared in the door window and came out. "Excuse me," he said, and held the door open for me. I recognized him as the boyfriend of one of my donwstairs neighbors who was going out for a smoke. I was startled by his appearance and didn't even talk to him or nod at him. I got upstairs to my place, set down my stuff, and then ran downstairs. I opened the building's back door and said: "Hey: thanks for opening the door for me. It was rude of me not to say anything." He smiled and said: "Don't worry about it" a few times as I spoke. I know if I hadn't gone down and said anything that this would have haunted me for the weekend, if not the rest of 2006 and beyond. As Costanza once said: "You know, we're living in a society! We're supposed to act in a civilized way."
- Hours later, I headed out that back door for the Country Bar to whoop it up over the latest Exiled being done. As I hit the back parking lot, I saw a raccoon to my right, wandering by the building. It stopped and looked at me, kinda daring me to approach it. I don't know anything about raccoons, but this guy looked obese. Are they generally rotund, or does this just happen to city racccons who feast on fat-filled dumpster product? I walked away but kept looking back at the raccoon as I made my way. He was also checking on me and anytime I looked back, he assumed some sort of defensive posture that suggested he was ready to kick my ass. Geez, fatass, you win! (Also: last night from my living-room window I spotted a raccoon in the yard between my building and the one next to ours. That guy scaled a tree and then hopped onto the top of my building. If I were paranoid, I would be convinced that the Man had trained certain raccoons to check up on my activities. )
- Oh, as mentioned above, Exiled on Main Street #42 is available here.