Bonnie and Clyde Files 5

I turned slowly into the gravel driveway of the sanctuary and the crunching sound began. I rolled down the window and waited for something to pierce the crunching. It came, and the piercing was good: the barking and howling of Bonnie and Clyde. I couldn’t seem them yet, but I knew they were outside at the gate and I like to believe Bonnie and Clyde recognize the sound of my car and work up a special enthusiasm for my visits to the sanctuary.

Yes, I believe they do! The treats are merely secondary! It must be the warm personality exuded by a 53-old year man who has struck out on 47 job attempts and is rapidly going broke.

I greeted the crew at the gate, slipped them some treats, and we made for the pasture and the river. Chainsaws grinded away in the distance and a fresh clearcut in the Coast Range was undoubtedly making its way into a corporate spreadsheet that would tickle far flung investors who didn’t know what a clearcut was.

The “show.” Loggers used to call a clearcut the “show,” or did in Sometimes a Great Notion. I doubt a single logger in Oregon calls it that anymore.

Money dominated my thoughts. I couldn’t exorcise them no matter how hard I tried. The bills keep coming. What am I going to do to earn a living? How am I going to survive? What is the secret? Is there a secret? Is the answer staring me straight in the face? Maybe I should try to become a middle-aged logger and bring back the word “show.” I could watch Paul Newman in Sometimes a Great Notion and learn how to log. Wait! I’ve already seen the film 50 times so I think I can figure it out.

Better yet, I need Bonnie and Clyde to rob some kind of existential bank for me. The loot will tie me over until some door opens up for me, I kick one down solo or a new friend helps me shatter a door to smithereens.

We meandered in the pasture until we came to the electric fence that blocked the path to the river. Bonnie and Clyde went under. I inspected the wire. I wondered if grabbing the wire would shock some solutions into me. I moved closer to it. I could hear some cracking sounds that weren’t nature-generated.

I grabbed the wire. Nothing. No current. I grabbed it again. Still nothing.

I followed the crew to the river where they sipped from water. I looked at the current. I waited for five minutes. I put my hand into it. Nothing.

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