Prolog: The tranquil place that Kim envisioned was not available to me. Nevertheless I found a relatively quiet place to let my mind wander and it settled on nothing profound. So I just wrote what came to mind.

Business flourished at Westinghouse Aerospace Division when aircraft companies were building new airplanes. When both military and commercial airplane business slumped, so did ours. Both businesses slumped in about 1985. Rather than lay off people management arranged for a few of us to temporarily transfer to the Marine Division in Annapolis, Maryland where the plant is located at the water’s edge on the western shore of the Chesapeake Bay. Charlie Doughman and I were among the lucky ones to go. The good news was that we could travel home every other weekend. Charlie went first, rented an apartment and got acquainted with the area, making it much easier for me when I showed up.

At the workplace I was assigned a desk. Somebody gave me some reading material to acquaint me with the marine business. The desk was located in one of many cubicles set in a big office. Inside my cubicle I could see no one else in the room but I could easily hear voices, especially in the hallway just across the wall. I felt like I was boxed up and ready for shipping once some one nailed the lid on my box. I soon settled down to read the stuff I was given. 

“Want to go out for lunch?” came a voice from across the wall. It wasn’t just a strange voice. It was a very familiar voice. It sounded exactly like George; but it couldn’t be. I went back to my reading. Soon I heard Otto say something but he’s not here either. The distraction of hearing these voices made it impossible to concentrate on my reading, so I just sat there and listened. After a few more strange voices I heard yet another familiar voice. This pattern continued for the rest of the day. It was a most eerie feeling and for a moment I thought I had never left home.

I don’t know if we helped the Marine Division. I can’t even recollect what I worked on. I did remember that when near the Chesapeake Bay one must eat seafood. We enjoyed the meals of oysters fixed four different ways. One night Charlie and I went to a restaurant on the eastern shore where we lived. We ordered a platter of blue point crabs in the shell. When the order arrived I was aghast at the size of the serving. The platter was a foot and a half in diameter and stacked in a mound that was ready to become an avalanche. This was my first try at picking meat from a crab shell. It took a while to get the hang of it but we persisted. They tasted too good to give up. When we finished the platter an hour or so later we were still hungry so we ordered another that we finished in another hour. That was some mighty fine eating. We could have eaten more but after two hours of picking out the meat we were simply too tired to continue.

Occasionally Charlie and I spent a day in Washington visiting some of the attractions. It was an easy trip. Charlie drove his Toyota to the nearest station where he parked it and we took the Metro into the city. One spring day we emerged from the Metro hole in the ground and after strolling about for a few minutes spied some of the famous Japanese cherry trees in bloom. The scene looked so inviting that we were drawn to wander over for a closer look. It was a warm day, slightly overcast but not threatening with only a slight breeze. Presently we found ourselves in the midst of a pink enchanted world, far removed from the city where we had been only moments before. As I walked leisurely along a path I found myself glancing at tree trunks as if expecting a character I had heard about in a long forgotten fairy tale to peep out at me. The absence of crisp shadows gave the forest of flowers a soft glow and caused in me a feeling of well-being. Whatever else we did that day paled in comparison to the walk among the cherry trees.

My Annapolis sojourn was an interesting one but I was glad when my stint was done and I could get back to my unfinished projects.