Sailing To Survive

I interviewed for the Park Service job and in fact, it turned out to be perfect for me and they hired me. I could pick anywhere to live as I would travel around the state most of the time and frequently up and down the river but I also maintained an office in Columbia with the staff people. As a result, we bought a place halfway between St Louis and Columbia that had twenty acres of grassland, a pond and well. As such, we became the natural gathering spot for the family. At our first gathering, both Tom and Ray had several calves delivered. Emily screamed at them and threatened to do bodily harm until the owner of the calves packed them back up and took them home. Everyone had a good laugh except Emily; she cussed all afternoon. It took Carla and Sylvia all afternoon to get her drunk enough to cool off.

Emily graduated and went to work for the agency the monitored the Mississippi river. Carla finished her doctorate and went to work teaching public policy for the university. Three years after that, Carla, Emily, and Sylvia all announced that they were pregnant at our common anniversary dinner. The guys were all surprised but the girls weren't; they planned it that way. Oh yes, we did get married on August tenth in a joint ceremony and in a moment of creative ennui, all six of us went to Cabo San Lucas for our honeymoon because Tom and Carla had never taken theirs because of work.

As for all of the other issues that came out that summer, read about it in the newspapers or the history books. Half the people in the country believe it and the other half don't. The third half doesn't just give a shit.