Bandits The bomber stream bored east, a gigantic silver snake that spewed contrails across a rich blue autumn sky, heading inexorably into the rising sun. That is where the fighters would come from, out of the glare, appearing suddenly, flashing by as dark shapes and the guns that bristled from the upper turret and the […]

Ray Bradbury knew about the end of the last good month of the year. He called it the October Country, which is a state of mind as much as it is a time. All the harvests are in, the first frost has visited, and the ghosts walk in the chill night air. The ghosts are […]

I have just about got Uncle Dick’s truck back to the condition that I think he would have appreciated. The new stainless exhaust is custom made to fit. The brakes work now, both primary and secondary. Stopping is a good thing, if you need to do that when you are going fast. I consider the […]

Series End I walked into the place last night, still in my tuxedo, black tie still proudly fixed under the points of the wing collar of my pleated shirt. It was the annual professional affair, the gathering of the Spooks. They were in from all over the world, from the War and from the far-flung […]

Rock Bottom I glanced at my watch, wondering what vagary of Washington rush hour had delayed my appointment. Traffic was brisk at the bar, commuters ducking in before jumping on the subway home. I enjoyed the first beer. It was a Virginia pale ale, a little bitter and quite tasty. I don’t drink much beer […]

The rains are coming, which is preferable to snow. They washed out Game Four of the World Series last night, and it was a comfort to not have to stay up to watch. I battened down the windows against the chilly wind and went to bed early, taking a television rain-check on the affair. It […]

The last two weeks of politics are a breathless time. The levers of power are at stake, and hyperbole is the coin of the realm. I make of point of doing my breathing exercises quietly at my desk when some bit of news flies by that upsets me. Puff-puff, exhale. Repeat. It keeps me from […]

The perma-frost is melting up in Alaska . That is the condition in which the soil all the way to the surface never thaws. The ice layer is getting deeper and deeper in the ground, and sooner or later it will go away. The warming conditions are real there, measurable, and I am hoping the […]

The Gee-Wot What follows is the draft script for a BBC domestic broadcast they want to air before the election to help the locals understand what the Cousins are up to. We’ll see how they like it. I don’t know what to call this war anymore. At it’s beginning, I was still a Spook in […]

The Missing Man The President is staying the course on the wars overseas, but something changed this week. A reporter asked if there were any similarities between the Tet Offsensive in Vietnam and what is happening this bloody month in Iraq. The President conceeded that there might be. I don’t know what Mr. Bush is […]