From the Lime Trees

"Well, they are gone, and here must I remain...."
--Coleridge, "This Lime-Tree Bower My Prison"

Agents 61, 95, and 97 just drove off for eight days in Tennessee, visiting my in-laws. Normally I'd go with them, but right now I have three freelance projects at once and I didn't feel I could spare four days on the road, plus very limited work days at the in-laws'. (I like them a lot and would hate to have to squirrel myself away for a couple of hours with a computer while they were out boating or something.)

Agents 95 and 97 are buckled into the back seat playing Gameboy, which they're likely to do for the rest of their journey, though they'll also spare some time, I'm sure, for reading books, listening to audio books, and bickering. These two boys are like a married couple: they can't stay apart from each other and they're always getting on each other's nerves. They have their own two-person culture: they joke together, laugh together, spar with each other, and talk so fast about so many in-references (usually referring to Japanese animations of one kind or other) that I'm left baffled.

Agent 61 is a thorough tour planner. She's got this familiar route mapped out and the trunk fully packed (where would my suitcase have fit?, we joked), and I've presented her with a can of fix-a-flat and a canister of pepper spray. Most importantly, she's got her own personal French press and bag of organic free-trade French roast to take with her to the caffeinically less sophisticated regions.

I'll be here in Austin working and blogging during the vacation. I'll probably even take myself out to a restaurant and a movie or two. And do a lot of reading. I've got to have some fun, it's going to be so lonely.