Once a week, I meet with Tom Flynn for a project we call “Writing in the Dark.”
We have drinks and dinner and then Tom reads from one of his hundreds of notebooks as I type what he says. His handwriting is very hard to read (even for him sometimes), especially because he sometimes writes with his left hand, sometimes with his right, sometimes with both at the same time, and often in the dark.
We give each notebook a name, but we have no way of knowing when the words were written, because he just picks up whatever notebook is available when the words come to him.
Sometimes people join us at the table to listen in.
Sometimes I write down the things Tom says in between readings. This is what he told me while taking a break from reading from a notebook we call “The Avenue.”
Note: Tom used to live in trees.
“I was in the Army. At that time, everybody hated soldiers.
“There was an ash tree that I became friends with. And actually there were a lot of trees that I became friends with because I lived in a tree at the time.
“This ash tree used to wake up late, later than the other trees.
“I used to go out with a stick and bat and try to wake it up and get the sap moving. It stayed alive a long time. Just a tree in the woods that I liked.”
SORRY, MY DANCE CARD IS FULL
Just got back from another Writing in the Dark session with my pal Tom Flynn.
Tonight, he presented me with this item from Watervliet High School, 1947. Apparently I made it into this young lady's dance card for: the Fox Trot, and the Waltz, the Charleston, the Black Bottom, the Frug, the Squire, the Pony, the Stroll, Tango, the Shimmy and... the "Mattress Mambo." (Yeah Baby!)
Note: This is what happens in Troy when you bail on an invite from one of our legendary characters.
Turns out, Tom had some last minute tickets to the RPI-Union hockey game this Friday. But I couldn't go. So he asked me, "Oh, your dance card is full?" "Yeah, my dance card is full," I replied going along with it.
And... voila. Tonight. Full dance card!
