In This Parched Land, We Are Surprised By Running Water!
“We ride until I see a stream below and pull off the road and stop. His face is full of embarrassment again but I tell him we’re in no hurry and get out a change of underwear and roll of toilet paper and bar of soap and tell him to wash his hands thoroughly and carefully after he’s done. .. “(Cont.Next)
Land Slide Area near Richland, OR. You (or I) might prefer to ignore (or leave unmentioned) Chris’s messy tough-to-deal-with diarrhea problem. But this problem is, I believe, pointedly placed here as an introduction to the topic and the homely qualities of Gumption. One day earlier, Chris had to be helped. Now, as you will see, he handles this straightforwardly and emerges in a cheerful mood. Gumption! Even the Narrator calmly handles the delay and carefully avoids making Chris feel worse than he already feels! Gumption! New topic: In the next caption is an “Omar Khayyàm rock“interlude? Why does he do this? I seriously doubt the verses are just “filler” or merely a needed indication of the passing of time in the story. I also doubt this is a delay indicating the author’s procrastination in getting down to the really tough boring task of writing about the (Narrator so stated) boring tough topic of Gumptionology. So …… is the interlude intended to show that the Narrator can turn the wait time to good use? Or is this interlude designed to make us, as readers, also peaceful and contented? Are we thus enjoined to allow what is going to happen … to happen … without impatience? Are we, as readers, in these moments supposed to be keeping ourselves on the Quality Track and full of gumption? Are we thus to be alert and actively looking for exactly how we (also) should respond here?
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(Photo = 111-1183c ...... ZMM Page = 271 ...... WayPt = 300w 2552ft)