In a message dated 2/26/01 10:34:46 AM Central Standard Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:


>

COD,

Amway: my landlord in Rockland County would not leave me alone until I went
to an Amway meeting. So I went... then he would not leave me alone until I
brought a guest to the next meeting. So I talked my long haired bearded ratty
coated best friend to come with me right after we had finished a day of
construction work, he installing windows for a Sicilian contractor who had
strange ideas about chickens, and I managing the HUD project. Wanting to make
a decent impression towards my future wealth I dressed in a jacket and tie
and combed my hair.

We were there for about a half hour, sitting and minding our own business
listening to the boisterous speil, counting our riches, when a prosperous
octagenarian came over, leaned over and asked me what I was doing bringing
people in looking like that, pointing at my friend, I mean, there are decent
professionals here like lawyers and dentists and architects. I smiled and
proudly told the plaid spectre that my friend was my first candidate and that
he wanted to sell soap too.

We got ourselves thrown out of there fairly quickly and my dreams of riches
and fortune went south in a hurry.

Not knowing quite what to do with ourselves, and with time to spare, we
stopped at an interesting looking biker bar for a beer. At the time we both
had a penchant for going into drinking establishments that were devoid of
signs on the front of their buildings, or at least that looked particularly
delapidated (my favorite being the Cobblestone Inn in Locke, NY which, at the
time, was slowly leaning into the creek that ran behind and under the
building). My friend explained to one surly biker, that had approached to see
what the fuss was about, not to be alarmed, that despite the uniform I was at
heart a long haired bearded ratty coated type of guy.

A few years later my wife met the daughter of Richard Brautigan and she and
her husband came over to our tiny railroad flat, the one over the OTB,  in
Brooklyn for dinner. When I and my friend, both of us being just a little bit
inebriated, found out that the son-in-law of Richard Brautigan sold Amway we
kind of went nuts. Kathy is still a bit pissed over that.

Best,
][<en