Papa Bear is Back

The Great Plotnik opens up his biodegradable canvas shopping bag and Nancy the sales girl at the corner fruit stand piles into it his milk, half and half, juice oranges, organic cucumbers and red leaf lettuce, plus two large (and cheap) avocados, first moving over the pound bag of French Roast coffee, ground for espresso, that Plottie previously purchased at Martha's.

You can get coffee in Providence and you can get coffee in Brooklyn. But Providence coffee is too acid. Brooklyn coffee is too flaccid. Saint Plotniko coffee is just right.

Walking back up the hill to World Headquarters, the air outside feels SO good on the back of his neck. Providence was beautiful yesterday, and it was hot there, but a different kind of hot. The Plotniks had beautiful weather in Brooklyn too but it's also a different kind of hot. Providence hot is too windy. Brooklyn hot is too trendy. Saint Plotniko's hot is just right.

(In November.)

So picture Plotnik merrily striding up his hill, carrying his bag of groceries, working his achilles and knees a bit, and he starts thinking: what would make this picture even better?

His normal default response to this question would be something like this: "If only our kids lived close by, why, we could get together more often and be closer and do more things together and..."

Then Plotnik thinks: But things are pretty danged nice just the way they are right now, aren't they? When we go East it's an occasion, not an obligation. We all do things together because we want to, not because we have to. The phone rings and no one says: "Psssst, Spike, my folks are here. I'll talk to you later."

The two touristy days in Boston were wonderful, the seven days in Providence were wonderful, the ten days in Brooklyn and Manhattan were wonderful.

But Boston's too old, Providence is too cold and Brooklyn has too much concrete.

Providence has lots of ethnic corners, and the Plots got to see more of it this time. Brooklyn is an exciting place, and Halloween and the NY Marathon were amazing. But the hoops through which people find it necessary to run just to do the simplest tasks, have not gotten any less daunting than when Plot and Duck lived in NYC. Try shopping for food. Try finding a school. Try getting in or out of town on a weekend.

Brooklyn is fun and Providence is fun but Saint Plotniko feels just right. "We haven't seen you for awhile," Nancy says, and Plotnik picks up another avocado and tosses it in his bag. He'll ride his bike down for hot tortillas later this afternoon.