Day Six: Monday 6th May 2013

Milling around, saying farewells

At the hotel I met the Mearas coming down in the lift and we checked out together. I hadn't really got to talk to either of them during the con so this was a chance to snatch a conversation, however brief. Having checked out it was then just a matter of waiting in the lobby for Andy and Carrie to appear. We'd agreed a departure time last night so I didn't get to chat too long with people before they showed up. After saying our goodbyes to those in the lobby we stowed our bags in their car and took off. I explained how little sleep I'd managed to get and warned them I'd almost certainly nod off, which I did. Unfortunately it was not very restful.

A few miles out from Portland we pulled off the highway and stopped in the small town of Centralia. Andy and Carrie wanted to look up a Mexican restaurant called La Tarasca that had been recommended to them, which was fine by me. It was now late morning and blisteringly hot outside so the cool interior of the restaurant was much appreciated.

The woman who took our orders was, I think, the owner. Certainly when Andy told her all the good things he'd heard about the place she kept saying: "The Lord has been good to us." I was a bit disconcerted by this since that level of open invoking of a deity isn't something I'm used to. I didn't say anything of course, because to do so under the circumstances would have made me a dick. This really wasn't one of those times when - in that famous, eye-watering phrase - it was appropriate to peel back the foreskin of superstition and apply the wire brush of reason.

The food was superb, but I couldn't finish mine - a delicious pork and bean dish called 'carnitas' - due to feeling out of sorts. Fortunately what I left was put in a carton for me. It would make a fine breakfast tomorrow. Yeah, I know - yet again.

When we got back in the car, Carrie suggested I stretch out across the back seats. I did so gratefully and kept my eyes closed, semi-dozing, until we were about 20 miles from Seattle.

At the house, I tried grabbing some more zzz's while Andy and Carrie headed out to find food for the evening's barbecue. The first to arrive for this, some hours later, was Ulrika, who helped Carrie prepare the food.

John D. Berry

Kath Mitchell

Tables and chairs were set up out on the deck and Andy fired up the barbecue, tossing chicken portions and beefburgers onto the grill to sizzle and sear away as people started to show up. According to my notes the eventual roster included me, our hosts, Hal & Ulrika O'Brien, Leroy Kettle & Kath Mitchell, Victor & Tamara Gonzalez, Jerry & Suzle, Glenn Hackney & Kate Schaefer, Doug Bell & Christina Lake, Randy Byers, and John D. Berry.

Tamara Gonzalez, Ulrika

I found myself sitting at a table with Ulrika and Tamara Gonzalez. Tamara had been at CORFLU but we hadn't talked. Dan had made a comment about her being in 'oil futures' and I was about to ask her what this entailed when there was a sudden commotion behind me as John D. Berry's chair collapsed beneath him, leaving him sprawling on the deck. Fortunately he wasn't hurt.

Victor Gonzalez, Christina Lake, Doug Bell, Jerry Kaufman

It soon got dark enough and cool enough that we moved inside and split naturally into two groups. One group stood around down in the kitchen/dining area, while the other sat up in the TV/lounge area. Perhaps unwisely given how prone I'd been to nodding off all day, I was in the latter group. We talked music and Doug revealed he has similar tastes in music to the rest of us even though we're all a good ten to fifteen years older than him.

"It was going through my parents' record collection when I was a kid that did it," he explained (of course it was). "We had this thing at school where you had to bring in three tracks to play to the rest of the class. My three were the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band, Meatloaf, and Bananarama."

I laughed.

"That could well be the only time in human history those three have ever been played together," I said.

For some reason the talk turned to fanart and I told them about something surprising I learned I could do.

"I'm out of practice now, of course," I explained, "but back in the day I could draw the human form starting from any part of it you could name."

"The spleen," said John D. Berry.

"The spleen?" I said. "No-one in all of history has ever drawn a human body starting with the spleen."

"You said you could draw it starting from any part," said Doug Bell.

"Yeah, but I was thinking of things like a foot, or a shoulder, or maybe even a buttock, not an internal organ. I mean, come on! Most people don't know what a spleen looks like, or what it does, or even that they have one. Shit, there are probably people out there who think The Spleen are an alien race who fought Captain Kirk."

"The Spleen could also be the name of a Sixties pop-group," mused John.

I could see this. They would have been the opening act for The Who during their early Mod days.

"Cool word, 'spleen'," said Doug. "I really like the sound of it."

"Who doesn't love 'spleen'?" I agreed. Ulrika wandered over.

"What're you guys talking about? she asked.

"Spleens," said John.

"Spleens?"

"Spleens," I confirmed.

I had now said 'spleen' more in five minutes than I usually do in five years.

As the evening wound down so people started to leave in their ones and twos and I got to say my final goodbyes to them. This was it. CORFLU really was over now. When the last of them had gone I immediately crashed out and was soon asleep. I have no memory of the last thing to pass through my mind as I drifted away. It was probably 'spleen'.