episode 5, taking care of Erika

Lohbado stumbled into a hole in the cement and nearly fell. Ben Kahn stopped his beige Lincoln Town Car. Ben rolled down the passenger side window and asked Lohbado if he was all right. Lohbado said no. Ben said to get in. Lohbado got in.

Ben was on his way home to his wife and five-year old daughter, after photographing a wedding. He felt terrible. He needed to talk. Lohbado could have a ride, but he would have to listen to Ben. Lohbado didn't mind.

episode 4, the romance of Lohbado

The beauty of sidewalk lies in its concrete nature of leading in a straight line towards the horizon. Cracks, not withstanding, weatherbeaten from hot and cold, snowploughs in winter, heavy rain and extreme heat in summer, the sidewalk provided a pretty patterned surface for Lohbado to stumble along in the heat of late afternoon, after Eva drove back in her Range Rover to Administrative headquarters, to take orders from husband Deputy Harry Stone. After all, she had no intension of ever getting it on with Lohbado. She was merely bored and wanted a little entertainment. There’s something exciting about acting on impulse, to leave the office and chat with a picturesque stranger from a faraway land.

episode 3, Lohbado and Eva

Lohbado and Eva sat quietly at a table by the window in Lumpie's Donuts, overlooking the runway of Yamaville Airport, for about five minutes and gazed at each other. Lohbado saw a tiny reflection of himself in her shiny dark eyes. She placed her hand over Lohbado’s hand on the table. When he leaned towards her, she pulled her hand away. 

“I still don’t feel safe," said Eva, "It takes very little to wound Harry Stone's vanity. That dog on a chain is warning us to be careful. Deputy Harry Stone has a big ego and a short fuse.”

episode 2, lunch with Esmerelda

continued from last post

Esmerelda drove with Lohbado to a restaurant at a plaza overlooking the runways of Yamaville Airport. She parked her Range Rover under the shade of a lone tree at the edge of a grassy boulevard where plane watchers sat in lawn chairs, or spread out blankets to enjoy the afternoon. They were like people at the beach, only instead of being on the seashore, they lounged at the edge of the sky. Instead of watching waves roll in, they saw jet planes come in for landing, or take off.

A large dog barked from the end of a chain attached to the post of a radiator repair and propane refill sign. The dog reminded him of the wild dogs he had frequently encountered on the Plains of Radiation. Occasionally he had to scare them off by throwing rocks. Usually they were ingratiatingly friendly. He got to know some of the dogs of the Secret Desert, when he ventured out of the dome for exercise. Colleagues warned him to stay in the dome. They thought he was foolish. People died out there on the Plains of Radiation. Lohbado was glad they were afraid to leave the dome. It meant more space to himself. It was exhilarating to wander in such a desolate landscape, where a person could die of exposure, or get lost, if he or she got careless.

episode 1, plane watchers

Oppressive scenarios vanished from Lohbado's mind as the jet plane accelerated on the runway and heaved into the sky. Lohbado sank  back in the seat and gazed at the rectangles and lines of city below. A stab of pain hit between the eyes. Lohbado took a couple pain killers.

The plane went above the clouds. Thick clouds blocked out the earth. After six years in the Secret Desert, Lohbado grew to enjoy bleak, spacious desolation, vast panoramas with few forms. On windy days, sand flowed in horizontal streams, blurring the horizon and creating a dreamlike effect. He almost got used to the extreme solitude of living in the Cha Region of the Poh Valley in the Secret Desert. 

Lohbado closed his eyes and dreamed about meeting an adult friend in Yamaville. He wanted a woman for conversation, shared interests and intimacy. They could do things as a couple and talk about themselves as "we". Lohbado yearned to experience the sweetness of love again, to ease the pain of loneliness and to feel new zest and zeal. Lohbado wished to have the social status of being able to talk about him and his partner, strength in numbers. Two is double one. Together they would set up a home and face the future. Together they would actualize potential.