June 6, 2022
BNormal, Illinonois
I went to Batteries Plus and dropped off a bag of batteries that I’d been saving for the past three years and then went to the MJ store, where business was boomin’. The jovial security guard was urging people to come on in and get in line as there were two check-in clerks. So I came on in and moved over and got in line behind a tall, skinny somewhat older guy who was wearing a raggedy baseball cap and looked like a hillbilly – probably had a tooth or too missing but then so did I. What got me interested in the guy was he had his wispy long hair done up in a wispy braid that ran down his back. I followed the braid all the way up to his cap, and there I saw a button with a picture of Mr. Spock on it and and I thought of the line, “Spock – are you out of your Vulcan mind?” So I said to the guy, “Hey man, are you out of your Vulcan mind?” He turned and said, “Pardon me?” I said, “On your hat – it’s Spock.” He says, “No, man, that’s DeForrest Kelly.”
“Oh really?” says I. Meanwhile the line to check in at the MJ store was inching up, but they had two check-in fellers and one of the check-in fellers was a man – a young guy who looked just like the guy (Tim Blake Nelson) who played Delmar in Oh Brothers Where Art Thou? – and the other feller was a woman. While we were waiting in line, this hillbilly and I continued to converse:
“Oh, hey,” says I. “Of course I was thinking of DeForrest Kelly. Like when he said, ‘Jim! I’m a doctor, not a geologist!’ And then Spock did the Vulcan mind-meld with the rock.”
“Yeah!” he says with alacrity. “I know! Are you out of your Vulcan mind???”
He pauses and then he says, “I was just thinking of something that happened about thirty years ago.”
I says, “Oh, recent history. Please continue.” And so we did, until we parted ways at the Double Cashiers. We each signed off, and then he was gone.
The Everlasting Now 