Milking Boston for as much as I can...

…but this is it. There was really only a little bit more that happened on that late September day. After the Asian market, we meandered over to Cambridge and TeaLuxe. This stop had to be mentioned because I need to confess that I also left my tea bag in my cup, like another “sinner” who shall not be named here for there is no reason to make her relive her shame. See, the tea was very hot. It was in “to go” cups with plastic lids, but the heat seemed to fuse the lid to the cup and it was just plain dangerous to try to take the lid off to remove the teabag. Or to add milk and sugar, but that is another confession altogether. I want to let it be known that Keppet didn’t yell at me about removing my tea bag. In fact, she didn’t even make much of a face upon finding out I had sugar in my tea. She was a model of self-restraint.

I also have to mention The Woman on the Bench. The Hobbling crowd took their tea and their selves across the street to a small grassy area with a bench, upon which sat a woman who was reading a newspaper, or going through work papers, neither Liz nor I can really remember. What we do remember is how she ignored us. She was surrounded by a horde of Hobblings talking, laughing, showing bad (and one good) ID pictures—and she continued to act as if she were completely alone. Even with a brooding preteen sitting next to her.

After that we went to a comic book store and I saw immediately that the air was infected with some sort of hysteria-inducing drug. I instructed CandyCaneGirl to hold her breath after I saw how quickly the others had been affected. Unfortunately, I was not able to warn anyone else in time. The rest of them went from shelf to shelf excitedly, poor things. While I was wishing I could save at least one of them, I realized that it was getting late and I had to leave. They’d just have to save themselves. Or spend money. Whichever.

You know how when you have one Pringles, or one chocolate-covered cherry, and instead of satisfying the craving it just makes you want more? I felt like that after Rian and helorime blew out of town, but thought that it might be different in Boston because I would be with everyone for longer. It wasn’t. When I realized that I needed to leave, I couldn’t believe it because it hadn’t been nearly long enough. I was still in my “hang-back-and-don’t-talk-too-much” phase. I never got to a “act-like-I-already-know-these-people-from-the-Board” phase. The closest I got was asking Emma to say something so that I could try to copy her accent. (It frustrates me that I can hear the difference between English and Australian accents but can’t reproduce them). I guess I’ll just have to try an make it to another avocado.