The Chalkboard Lesson III

Michael was afraid to move or breathe, but he allowed the curves of his body to melt into his best-friend, and they lay like spoons in a case.
-Nial Kent
“The Divided Path”

Kafka often made extensive use of a trait special to the German language allowing for long sentences that sometimes can span an entire page. Kafka's sentences then deliver an unexpected impact just before the full stop—that being the finalizing meaning and focus. This is achieved due to the construction of certain sentences in German which require that the verb be positioned at the end of the sentence. Such constructions cannot be duplicated in English, so it is up to the translator to provide the reader with the same effect found in the original text.

I am thankful I am not reading Kafka's original words that were written in German. The Complete Stories edition I have is entirely in English.

The second morning at the W-Hotel I wrote these thought provoking Kafka words from his unfinished book ‘Description of a Struggle’. It was the third 'Chalkboard Lesson':

I couldn’t afford to do much thinking
for I had to go on swimming to prevent myself from sinking too low.


Twenty-five years ago today:

August 25, 1984
Saturday

I woke up at 8:30 this morning. I woke up and ‘smelled the coffee’. I went straight to the Alameda Hospital to see mom. She felt a painful plastered feeling on her side. She looked pretty well, considering the realization that she had surgery. I was glad the worst was over. I left the hospital at 9:30AM or so because she was dozing off.

When I arrived home I was going to bike but I decided to go ahead and call Chris Cordellos.
“He hasn’t come home all night. I will give him the message that you called,” said Mrs. Cordellos.

Elisa Berney suddenly called me after I hung up the phone.
“I am taking Stephanie to the circus,” Elisa said. She went on to suggest I accompany her to the circus. She also invited me to dinner and a VCR flick for tonight. She was being extraordinarily thoughtful. I began to wonder if Bunny (her sister) had mentioned that we had bumped into one another. Maybe Elisa called so I wouldn’t feel ‘burned’ about that lunch date we were supposed to arrange some time ago.
“How about if I call you at four o’clock or so to let you know about the circus,” I answered.
I ended up not calling her because Suzy called thereafter and invited me to go to Carmel-by-the-Sea. It just sounded much more appealing. I agreed to go to Carmel but wondered what had ever happened to Chris.

I rode my bike to Suzy’s place and then we went in her new Celica to Carmel. She wanted to return some shoes at the Lloyds Shoe Store there. We had such a good time. We took a new route through winding roads via Watsonville and Gilroy. We listened to old tunes and new tunes on the radio during the scenic journey. We departed Alameda at noon and arrived in Carmel by 2PM. We saw a lot of Ferrari, Porsche, and Mercedes-Benz sports cars. I even noticed a gorgeous Aston-Martin, of course. There were Jaguars, too.

PHOTO: 1984-Sue Miller, Carmel, CA

We found a cute little place for Swedish pancakes and walked through the Downtown. We got a lot of ‘double-takes’ between the two of us. Suzy kept saying that they think we’re ‘Donny & Marie’. I laughed.
After the long extensive walkabout I decided to buy a new pair of shoes. Suzy and I decided to venture over to Monterey. Some lady took our picture with the neat scenic background of the boats at port. We saw big seals or sea lions. I took special notice of ‘Mike’s Seafood Restaurant’. I saw a cute monkey and two twin dogs, too.

PHOTO: 1984-Michael J Armijo, Monterey, CA

I was happy that Sue did not buy a $100 blouse or a $360 blouse. I wanted the white ultra-suede coat for $330…but let’s be serious! The prices were outrageous. We still had a good time. I saw a beautiful yellow Jaguar that I liked in Monterey (Yikes, maybe one day).

We left Monterey at 6PM and arrived in Alameda by 8PM. Then I rode my bike home from Sue’s apartment.

I immediately called my mom.
“Oh, I’ve been dozing off and on all day,” said Mom, “and Tony, Dad, John, Sherri and Ashley came to visit. Ashley’s hair is growing.”
I knew mom was coming back to her regular self after hearing those words.

Cedric Green called a few minutes later to apologize about the fact that I was not able to leave last night when I wanted.
“Oh, it’s okay,” I said, realizing how kind of a gesture it was for him to say this.
I was touched.

I gave Chris Cordellos a call and listened to him explain how his friend, Clay, had been slipped some ‘angel dust’ and went psychotic, yelling crazy things all night long.
“Elliot and I tried to calm him down and we almost had to take him to the hospital,” Chris said in an out-of-breath sort of way.
He did not take him to the hospital, but he went on to say that he and Clay went to Golden Gate Park in San Francisco today. It sounded as though he had a good time.
“I came over to your house and was going to wait for you but I decided to go on only a dollar of gas because I had no idea when you would be home,” Chris explained.
“You did?”
“Yeah, and Ed was in Martinez and wanted to do something so I made a date with Clay for Sunday night to see ‘Black Flag’, they’re a hardcore punk group. They’re playing at The Stone in the City,” Chris announced.

PHOTO: Black Flag group

I admit I was pretty upset because he was not making time for me throughout this entire weekend. He is supposed to be my best-friend. He made some haphazard statements about having spent a lot of time with me every time he comes down to the Bay Area. I only know that if we are best-friends then we would want to spend time with the “best”. Furthermore, one would make time for whomever we want to make time for! I don’t know this Clay ‘guy’ at all but from what I am hearing he seems to be a ‘bird brain’.

Hell…I still wonder about Chris and whether he can even write a letter. I want to know more about his literary capabilities.
I told him, “Later”.
Chris stated the same word, “Later” and hung up the phone!
I simply hung up the phone in anger. I don't believe he realized my anger.

Chris called me right back to say, “Oh, my mom gave me money and I don’t have to go to Sonoma tomorrow. I can come over around eleven in the morning.”
I was glad. Or was I glad? I think I want our day to be perfect. I want to get lunch together and go with him to Lake Chabot. Perhaps we can even ride a pedal boat together. I plan to surprise him. He did say he was still going to the concert with Clay. I pretended that I understood. He believed that I did not completely understand.
“We will discuss it more tomorrow,” said Chris in his ‘I promise you’ tone.

I tried to nap but instead I ate Doritos, coffee ice-cream and watched ‘Mama’s Family’ and “Silent” something (about the mistreated investigations of molested children). It freaked me out and reminded me of Chris and his stories about Charlie’s father and his own father and other molesting cases he had experienced as a child. It’s too bad. Maybe that is why he is so confused sometimes about our ‘mere friendship’.