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mallorys_cameraDreamed about The Most FABULOUS museum! This huge structure that from the outside looked vaguely like the Brooklyn Museum (a museum in which I spent a significant portion of my youth) but from the inside went on and on and on, with stained glass everywhere, and also the most remarkable painted statuary. The exhibits were completely immersive like holographs, and you’d have lifelike interactions with them that went on for centuries—like there was one exhibition on this poet called Basho1 —
But on the sidelines, there was all this drama I had to deal with.
Like Ben was deliberately alienating RTT’s affections and undermining my relationship with RTT.
And I ran into John Simmons. “I really dislike you,” I told him. (“I don’t like you either,” he replied.)
And I ran into Marybeth and told her, “You should explore as much of this museum as you can because you won’t have the opportunity to do it again: This is only a dream”—which I hadn’t known (I mean that it was a dream) until I said the words—
###
It might be interesting to ask Marybeth, Did you dream of me, too, last night?
###
Meanwhile:
This is what I woke up to.
Not too terrible. Maybe four inches. Although, of course, I would prefer no Hideous White Stuff From the Sky at all.
And I don’t know why my iPhone camera made the sky blue. It’s grey. And the snow is continuing to fall. Teensy tiny flakes.
###
TaxBwana has been officially canceled today.
Yesterday, there was only one client I cried over—Frederic Elkjer (not his real name), who was so ancient he no longer had a gender. His long grey hair made me think he was a woman when I first saw him. I was surprised when I saw his name.
Tiresias…
Frederic Elkjer is 89 years old. In full possession of his faculties. Physically fit. Survives on an $8,000 social security payout and the $500 or so he makes gardening for neighbors.
He had to get his taxes done to qualify for one of New York State’s property tax rebates.
I was absolutely shocked to see that they are taking out $2,000 a year to cover his MediCare Part A & B.
How can anyone survive in this country on $6,500 a year?
Let alone a very, very old person?
His only physical disability was that he was stone deaf, so I communicated with him by writing on a blank piece of paper. (I found myself writing very, very large—the graphological equivalent of shouting, I suppose.)
I am fairly certain you qualify to have your Medicare payments subsidized, I wrote. Would you be interested in some information on this?
He nodded his head eagerly.
Also, I think you qualify for food stamps.
He took the pen and wrote back, I thought I would just try to look for more work.
Oh, no, no, no, no, NO, I thought.
But I wrote: You deserve to enjoy more leisure. And printed him out reams of information on how to apply to the Qualified Medicare Beneficiary Program and SNAP.
All the while thinking, Why has no one suggested these things to Frederic Elkjer before? Why have they left him dangling so precipitously close to the cracks? In what universe is a nonagenarian left to survive on less than $7,000 a year?
Honest to God. I have his address (‘cause I poured over property taxes.) I’m seriously thinking about sending him an anonymous cashier’s check.
But I suppose that is just me being sentimental.
Anyway, I cried and cried on the drive home.
I just couldn’t get that one sentence—I thought I would just try to look for more work—out of my head.
###
Came home and discovered that a new C.B. Strike had landed on HBO.
So, I cracked open the chocolate-covered cranberries and settled down for a binge.
If I were still into fancying people, I would have a crush on Tom Burke, the actor who plays Cormoran Strike. I’ve always had a thing for macho, secretly sensitive guys who wear fisherman sweaters.
But fortunately, I'm not.
1 I must have known there is a Japanese poet named Basho, right? I mean, he’s very famous. But in the dream, I didn’t—
But on the sidelines, there was all this drama I had to deal with.
Like Ben was deliberately alienating RTT’s affections and undermining my relationship with RTT.
And I ran into John Simmons. “I really dislike you,” I told him. (“I don’t like you either,” he replied.)
And I ran into Marybeth and told her, “You should explore as much of this museum as you can because you won’t have the opportunity to do it again: This is only a dream”—which I hadn’t known (I mean that it was a dream) until I said the words—
###
It might be interesting to ask Marybeth, Did you dream of me, too, last night?
###
Meanwhile:
This is what I woke up to.
Not too terrible. Maybe four inches. Although, of course, I would prefer no Hideous White Stuff From the Sky at all.
And I don’t know why my iPhone camera made the sky blue. It’s grey. And the snow is continuing to fall. Teensy tiny flakes.
###
TaxBwana has been officially canceled today.
Yesterday, there was only one client I cried over—Frederic Elkjer (not his real name), who was so ancient he no longer had a gender. His long grey hair made me think he was a woman when I first saw him. I was surprised when I saw his name.
Tiresias…
Frederic Elkjer is 89 years old. In full possession of his faculties. Physically fit. Survives on an $8,000 social security payout and the $500 or so he makes gardening for neighbors.
He had to get his taxes done to qualify for one of New York State’s property tax rebates.
I was absolutely shocked to see that they are taking out $2,000 a year to cover his MediCare Part A & B.
How can anyone survive in this country on $6,500 a year?
Let alone a very, very old person?
His only physical disability was that he was stone deaf, so I communicated with him by writing on a blank piece of paper. (I found myself writing very, very large—the graphological equivalent of shouting, I suppose.)
I am fairly certain you qualify to have your Medicare payments subsidized, I wrote. Would you be interested in some information on this?
He nodded his head eagerly.
Also, I think you qualify for food stamps.
He took the pen and wrote back, I thought I would just try to look for more work.
Oh, no, no, no, no, NO, I thought.
But I wrote: You deserve to enjoy more leisure. And printed him out reams of information on how to apply to the Qualified Medicare Beneficiary Program and SNAP.
All the while thinking, Why has no one suggested these things to Frederic Elkjer before? Why have they left him dangling so precipitously close to the cracks? In what universe is a nonagenarian left to survive on less than $7,000 a year?
Honest to God. I have his address (‘cause I poured over property taxes.) I’m seriously thinking about sending him an anonymous cashier’s check.
But I suppose that is just me being sentimental.
Anyway, I cried and cried on the drive home.
I just couldn’t get that one sentence—I thought I would just try to look for more work—out of my head.
###
Came home and discovered that a new C.B. Strike had landed on HBO.
So, I cracked open the chocolate-covered cranberries and settled down for a binge.
If I were still into fancying people, I would have a crush on Tom Burke, the actor who plays Cormoran Strike. I’ve always had a thing for macho, secretly sensitive guys who wear fisherman sweaters.
But fortunately, I'm not.
1 I must have known there is a Japanese poet named Basho, right? I mean, he’s very famous. But in the dream, I didn’t—
