Pathetic fallacy

 Pathetic fallacy* 

We drove out to Kansas in June.* We drove back in January, the sky spitting snow, the roads greasy and wet. We drove out through one bright day and one clear night. We came back - at least through Missouri and half of Kentucky, two leaden days, hovering between dawn and dusk with no noon in between. Metaphorically speaking, of course.

     To extend the metaphor: We picked up Nashe in Topeka midmorning the first day. He wedged his bag in the trunk, saw my golf clubs again, and asked how I planned to keep my hands warm.

     We spent the first frigid night in Columbia. We went back to The Turtle and met Sommers there to drink bland Midwestern beer and eat bland Midwestern bar-and-grill food. Nashe and Sommers got into an argument about a hearing going on in Congress. Sommers accused Republicans of attacking one witness, argumentum ad hominem: “Just because he’s short and wears a bowtie and uses longer words when shorter would do doesn’t mean he’s not telling the truth,” Sommers said. Nashe - “for the sake of argument, and consistency!” - his voice smiling, accused Democrats of argumentum ad verecundiam: “Just because he’s a decorated war veteran with a heart-warming personal story doesn’t mean he isn’t lying,” Nashe said.

Roz in her salad days
(photo manipulated by mel ball)

     “Why isn’t that called argumentum ab homine?” Roz asked. “Do I have my Latin right?” Nashe said he thought she did.

We ended the night, pretending to be young again, sleeping any old way in Sommers’ frowsty apartment: Nashe stretched out on a dusty couch; Roz curled up in two fat chairs pushed together; I was on the floor.

     We woke up, feeling -  and smelling and looking - old, stiff as the day outside. The sky looked like shirt board. According to the map, we had 840 miles to go.

Night two, we stopped at a Quality Inn somewhere near Frankfort, KY. And on the third day, we woke up back in summer. The sun was up before we were, yellow as mustard.

11.23.19

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 * And two logical ones. 
** See here (and the three following) if you haven’t been keeping up.) For more on Roz, see here.