anyway the blonde turns out to be a first rate mechanic
& she does finally manage with brute force & lots of jumping up & down to loosen 7 of the 8 lugnuts
& tho we try everything & take several breaks for laughing
it eventually becomes clear that the nut is hopelessly stripped
& she declares she has to run & i need a welder
i wave a 10dollar bill at passing cars
& as the sun kisses the horizon
i realize that what i am really doing
is declaring the day a 10 on a 10scale
& quite demonstratively so
but then an even more marvelous thing happens
i look again at the sun
& it has split in half
vertically
so only the left hemisphere of it is visible as it sets
half sunsets are of course routine
but ive never seen one split perpendicular to the horizon like this
what a portent
like maybe my 10 dollars really only covered half the tab for this incredible day
& the cosmos is raising the ante on me
so i put the 10 away & start waving a 20dollar bill instead as the sun goes down
declaring the day now rather a 20 on a 10scale
& thinking the 6 blowoffs plus 1 real blowout do indeed make a perfect recapitulation of my 61 years
so why shouldnt i double down too
& good on me for playing such a smashing game of paddleball with the universe
especially if thought really does affect the reality that emerges
at this
not a welder
but a blacksmith arrives
with no torch but lots of tools & might
& tho we too try everything & take several breaks for laughing also
he is not so amused
& breaks 2 of his tools & wrenches his back
& mashes the steel til it looks like zinc
but the nut still wont disintegrate
hahaha
& he goes off muttering to leave me for the night & the hope of a welder in the morning
groundhog day today dawns & not a welder but a minister arrives
i know it sounds like a setup
first the bombshell then the blacksmith & now the minister
& we too try everything & laugh continuously
& i promise there will be some real points soon
but this will have to be another good place to take another break