Ringing the Bell at The Center in the Midwest

There's a Last Day tradition at The Center and there's a bell on the wall which may only be touched by those who have gone through the course.  According to the tradition, you ring the bell three times and the rest will remain a mystery since I don't think it's appropriate to recite that here and, besides, things may have become a little misty at that point.

I can tell you it is one loud-ass bell and that surprised Yevette but she gave it those three rings.

Yevette had been feelin' kind of poorly this mornin' but I was hoping for kind of boost when she got through the treatment today knowing this is the last call.  That did happen but that wasn't enough to kick up her heels.  She does want a strawberry milkshake, tho, so I'm calling that an excellent sign.


The wait time put Congenial Silas to the test since I go there all ray of sunshine and that had no effect whatsoever on one guy who was sawing logs like a deep woods lumberjack.  After a time, the lumberjack awoke and turned out to be talkative ... really, really talkative ... about guns and Civil War reenactments.

I did try to give him an idea of my own vibe since I told him I hadn't touched a weapon since the Army and it doesn't take a "Jeopardy" winner to deduce that was a long time back.  In fact, in three days I hit the 45th anniversary of getting out of that stinking oil pit of an existence in the military.

Ed:  I thought you had fun with the boys over in Juarez?

I did but that wasn't Army.  That was a crew of draftees who went over there because no-one gave us any shit in Juarez ... plus there were hookers.  In Juarez, we were just tourists.


The lumberjack told me about his guns, all of them, and one of them was a .50-caliber handgun ... whoa, daddy.

I said, "That one is enough to scare Clint Eastwood with whatever he brings."

That idea seemed to please him as he enjoyed how the weapon didn't just hit things but completely obliterated them.


Is this turning you on?  It's really turning me on.  Ooh, .50-caliber ... that's a big one, isn't it.

Ed:  buddy, I'm as pumped as the cabana boy on Ladies Night


I did not jack with the fellow at all.  His kid was in the back getting radioactive for cervical cancer so I should get argumentative?  Ain't goin' happen, cabron.

I didn't have any reason to be a bitch anyway since he seemed a good-hearted ol' boy and he must be to deal with what his daughter takes.  He just likes big bangs from black powder and, wtf, they only fire blanks in the Civil War reenactments so he's hardly a threat to society.

He had been to some big reenactments since he talked about one in which there were thirty thousand on the field and that apparently didn't include an audience, a likely camera crew filming it, etc.

I've been to some Renaissance Fairs and they're kind of cool but I haven't seen one yet which had thirty thousand people in play.  Most impressive.


Yevette rang that bell today.  There isn't anything pithy to say which would be commensurate to her experience.  Therefore, the pithiest thing I can say is nothing at all and hope none of you are ever in a situation in which you will discover the rest of the tradition with that bell.