58th / Twister

Monday night

Dream 1: 58th

Three farmers, all black men in their 50s, and all old friends, went to the bank. Each was wearing blue denim overalls. All three were there to pick up payments of some kind. Two of the men lived in the eastern part of the country. One lived in California, but was back for a visit. They took turns at the window, and when the man from California got to the front of the line, the bank teller said, "...And we're giving an extra payment to people living beyond the 58th parallel." At that, he turned to his friends and said, "I guess that proves that I'm the smartest one after all."

Dream 2: Twister

My wife and I were in a car on Dinwiddie Street, parked directly in front of my mom and dad's house. I got out first, gazed at the sky, and said, "Look! It's a funnel cloud!" A large black tornado was less than a block away, and was headed in our direction. My wife stayed in the car, but I stood outside and watched as the tornado passed us by, avoided Mom and Dad's, and continued down 34th Street.

*****

Dream 1: 58th

I tried to research the 58th parallel on the Internet, thinking that it would be fairly simple to pinpoint it, but got lost in competing maps, globes, projections and mumbo jumbo. It would be interesting to find out if the 58th parallel is indeed between California and the eastern part of the United States. I don't know much about geography; for instance, I can probably name all of the states on the perimeter of the U.S., but would be hard-pressed to know which are which in the interior. The other night I attended a party at the home of my wife's former boss, and met some nice people who recently came to Nashville from Canada. I told them that I knew nothing about Canada, so we had an interesting conversation. Maybe one of them mentioned the 58th parallel?

Dream 2: Twister

I'm sure that if a tornado really was that close, my wife would not be hanging out in the car. She's a bit of a weather junkie anyway, and would probably know about it well in advance, and take all necessary precautions. I'd hope that I wouldn't be dumb enough to stand around staring at one with my mouth open, either, but if past is prologue, maybe I would. We do get tornadoes and tornado-level winds in Middle Tennessee, and I haven't always used the proper amount of caution. About two years ago, one such storm was whipping the trees like crazy, and the sky was a greenish gray. My wife was at work, but I was home at the time. Hail began hitting the windows, so, of course, I said, "Cool!" and ran outside to check it out. Not long after that I drove across town to pick up a carry-out pizza. I've learned my lesson since then. Nowadays, when the really bad weather hits, we're down in the basement with our cat, a lantern and the radio.