I was a bart simpson type character for a while, skating through the mall punching people at random. it was fun. nobody caught up with me. exited mall by the grand granite marble piazza at the sunny south end. later was coming up the breezeway toward the (then) jr high school, talking with scott and others, being funny the way we used to be, but the breezeway came to a really narrow, cave-like part, and i ducked outside it onto the grass because i was a little bit of a claustro. ended up at the top of the hill way before them. this old, boulderheaded black guy sat there grinning. as i walked past he picked me up by my butt; i was sitting in his great big hand as if in the scoop of a steam shovel, and he threw me several feet (the way you do with a little kid in the pool). i yelled cuz i was startled, but i came back over by him and said, it was fun though and he laughed. Then, reclining there while everyone went by not noticing us, he told me and Glenn what it was like to be a big black gay guy in this day and age. He was very good-humored about it. Glenn was fascinated but nervous. Later Chris and I were in the middle of a project to restore a small but grand rowboat to seaworthiness. It was stormy and windy and moody outside, and the waves were getting more insistent. We lived by a secret sea. It was almost ready. Later we were talking to this really amicable guy about this peace-corps-exchange-program-type job he was about to go do. He showed us a brochure and we saw that it was a religious thing but we didnt say anything about it. Later I was disappointed because it was already bedtime and we hadnt got around to actually going out in the boat. It was now down by the lake behind moms house. I was thinking about taking it out by myself in the dark just a little. Not sure if it was connected to the religious guy or not, I think it was, but I got into a conversation with some more people at the mall. They were part of this semi-secret organization who were fighting a cool war against established laziness and wastefulness and complacency. I tentatively joined up with them even though I didnt agree with everything they said. But the more I did the tasks (not exactly assignments; it was considerably anarchic), the more i started getting enthusiastic about the whole thing. We did little things mostly, me and my (dog?) friend. We would disarm automatic doors here and there. We ran through the mall doing--im not sure what, something mildly illegal bordering on seriously illegal. We did stuff right next to security guards. We went in darkened wings we werent supposed to go in. We stopped to play a big beautiful piano in the mall. The action was a little heavy but it sounded great. I hardly even had to hit the keys exactly right; as long as I stayed in rhythm the song was convincing. Later I was sneaking a smoke in the bathroom which was on the opposite side from where it really is at Dad & Ruths cabin. I wasnt trying too hard not to get caught. I felt a little stupid.