Poodie James

excerpt

woman for the first time since he and Millie said goodbye. Dear
Millie. Dear Marcie. Poodie considered lighting the kerosene
lamp and reaching for his History of Egypt. He was asleep before
the thought ended.
Chief Darwin Spanger eased his cruiser into the parking place he
had ordered reserved alongside the Columbia Hotel. The parade
was two blocks down the avenue, headed north toward the center
of town. The population today was ten times normal. More than
100,000 folks were packed along the parade route, some of them
there since sunup. The image of a red delicious surrounded by
apple blossoms topped every lamp post and telephone pole. Bunting
trailed above the street in white and green swoops. Six deep on
the sidewalks, people fanned themselves with festival programs.
Summer weather was a month early. The urgencies of a Sousa
march wafted up the hot asphalt and melded with the babble of the
crowd craning their necks as they watched a skywriter finish his
message. It stretched above the valley from the Columbia to the
rocky outcroppings on the foothills west of town, “Welcome To
The Apple Capital Of The World.” Chief Spanger saw two of his
men on opposite sides of the avenue moving barely fast enough to
keep their motorcycles upright, herding impatient youngsters back
to the curb. The parade’s outriders followed. Tassles on their red
fezes flew as the Shriners cut figure eights and do-si-doed up the
street, grinning and waving on miniature motor scooters and tiny
cars powered by one-lung engines. The tin signs on their handlebars
read “Al Azhar Temple, Calgary, Alberta,” and “Zelzah
Shrine Temple, Las Vegas,” “Al Bedoo Temple, Billings,Montana,”
Ben Ali Temple, Sacramento, California,” “Calam, Lewiston,
Idaho.” “Masada, Yakima, Wash.,” “Bagdad, Butte, Montana,”
“Afifi, Tacoma,” “Moses Lake,” “Seattle,” “Portland,” “Spokane,”
hundreds of old men zooming and cavorting, waves of cartoon characters
driving cartoon vehicles. The crowd was laughing.
“From them signs, it looks like an A-rab invasion,” Spanger
heard a parade watcher tell his wife, “but them guys damn sure…

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