Wednesday, January 3, 2007

Austin- Installment Two, Baby Food and Fear




New Braunfels, Texas. Tuesday. The Parking lot of the HEB, the chain here, like Key Food or Albertsons. I am walking with Ashleigh Beyer, in a bit of a left over stupor, when our eyes fall on a School Bus with a toilet mounted on the back. It had a bumper sticker which said give Peas a Chance and on both sides of the bus were two banners with the web address www.babyfooddude.com. (I tried to HTML this, but look who you're working with.)

He started pulling away. I have no real idea why, but I started running after him.
I caught up to him and he opened his window. I just had to ask.

He told me that he is on a diet of only baby food. He is eating baby food for one month and filming a movie about it while he drives to California...in a school bus.
I told him that some little old ladies have to eat baby food when they are poor or don't have teeth. We wished each other well.

And you tell me that New Yorkers are weird.



We went for a walk in the Canyon near the house where we are staying. It was dusk, and as always, I was wearing the wrong shoes. I was a little behind everyone else, reading strange signs people had left as markers, when the Adventurers up front stopped and said, "shhh!"

I wasn't talking, I may have been laughing, but I do know, that when I stopped, I heard something eating.

I was a distance from everyone, but I did also hear someone in my party say, "turn around and WALK FASTER!"

This I interpreted as run for your life.

And I lead the way. Last One in First One out.

Someone was trying to tell me something, but I simply threw over my shoulder that I couldn't hear them right now, because I was blinded by fear.

Back at the house. Lying in bed, later that night, I kept hearing things falling in my sleep. Dropping to the floor. I finally turned on the light, to get to the bottom of the matter, and discovered there was a Potted Tree in my room. Its leaves were curling, dying, and dropping off.

We have decided to travel to Mexico this weekend. We want observe where the Wall is being built from Laredo to Brownsville.

Austin is cool. New Braunfels is quiet. And I have a safe room which protects me from the three cats that make me sneeze.

3 comments:

Sarah Glidden said...

what was the eating thing?! did you ever find out?

MS said...

I think the running for my life thing took precedence over my curiosity in that moment.

Rachel said...

Bats? Austin has bats.

Bats are an original host for bedbugs.

Austin likely has the plague, they just don't know it yet.

I still like Houston more than Austin. I'm firm on that one.

But I bet it was Bats.

Munching bats. You shouldn't run, just stay really still and hold a tennis racket. Bats can't see tennis rackets. You can knock them down.