michigan

You finish the first day and those wings, they vanish like they've never been and you land, carefully, gingerly, in your sandals on your injured left foot. You call two of your oldest and most absent friends, who are in a genteel suburb a little to your west, and agree that dinner should be later rather than sooner.

You kidnap Cary, still wearing your belt, and drive north to a Lebanese bakery you have loved for years. You talk of marriages and travel and biking and programming before telling the person at the counter yes, you need six mixed trays of pastries and no, you don't need a bag for that.

He gives your belt back to you at the hotel, and you have a few minutes to wait before the old friends arrive and it's time to walk, walk, walk on that injured left foot again into the area of Greektown where, the night before, you were high-fived by strangers after the Red Wings won.

It ends with a shiny new Detroit terminal, and the most expensive rental car you've ever arranged for. You pass the giant tire, a covered-up Ferris wheel that seems strangely metaphorical for this collapsing city, into one of the strangest urban areas your home country has to offer.

You are keenly aware that you are absolutely alone, and you know you have fewer than twelve hours to call this whole ridiculous set of shenanigans off.  You are not a teacher; you are the daughter of one, and you ran screaming from that profession as far as your geeky, chubby legs could carry you.

You are not a teacher, you repeat into the phone to someone who is. You are not certain whether you want reassurance, or a kick in the ass.  You get both. You pace your hotel room and stare out to the Detroit skyline, contemplating how you will fail spectacularly the next morning, and rehearse your apologies.

Oh, my dear little librarian. You pile up enough tomorrows, and you'll find you are left with nothing but a lot of empty yesterdays. I don't know about you, but I'd like to make today worth remembering.
- from The Music Man (thanks, Katie!)

Or ...

The cheese dances in the park after the seance.
(Thanks, Rachel. We'll come back to this one in a few months.)

Listmaking has begun in earnest. Panic started two days ago. There is much to do and a rapidly-lessening amount of time to do it in. A rough idea of my itinerary: