Chapter 3

In writing or rather dictating these columns for these past months, Noah was starting to become comfortable in doing it. Stan told him he was pleased with the columns that were being submitted. There still was interest being expressed as to who Bonnie was, but so far her identity had not been disclosed. The competitor newspaper had increased the prize they would award to those who would disclose who Bonnie was to a week at an all-inclusive resort in Cancun, Mexico.

Even though Noah tried to be objective, some of the columns he wrote reflected his conservative-leaning. He did make an effort to submit columns that covered a multitude of topics. Movie and television show reviews, local wasteful government spending, government censorship, along with the actions of professional athletes and movie stars were some of the subjects he commented on.

Stan told Noah their surveys showed the column was almost as popular as Paul Conners’s Sunday column. He said the paper’s circulation had increased which was attributed to the “She Stirs the Pot” column. Because of the increase, Noah received a pay increase.

There were columns that he wrote that he received considerable positive feedback. The one in which Bonnie said she didn’t care for people who lie, especially politicians was one of those columns. Bonnie mentioned the Senator who stated on the floor of the Senate and admitted later that he lied when he said a Presidential candidate didn’t pay any income taxes as one example. She gave other examples of a Cabinet Member who keeps saying the southern border is closed when in fact, it isn’t. She said people can see the present administration is encouraging illegal immigration, when they say they are not. She mentioned a Congressman who frequently said he had solid evidence that the President colluded with Russia, but this Congressman never did produce this evidence. Bonnie said this shows these politicians have a poor moral character and they are not to be trusted or voted for.

A column on cities and celebrities who say they are “sanctuary cities,” or that they support the building of affordable housing for immigrants and homeless people caused a few positive email responses. Bonnie mentioned how these cities and celebrities react when illegal aliens are bussed to their sanctuary cities, or housing is proposed to be constructed for the homeless in the area where these celebrities live. They react completely opposite to what they have previously said. For good measure, Bonnie threw in their opposition to electrical wind generators being constructed where these politicians and celebrities who are eco advocates vacation or live.

Noah felt good in doing these columns as he thought he was representing the average person in having a voice in calling these people who are two-face, where the majority of the liberal leaning press wasn’t doing it.

At school, it was the norm in how students reacted to being told if they didn’t study more, they wouldn’t pass Noah’s course and would be spending their summer in summer school. That ordinarily was the boot in the ass necessary to spur the students to spend more time studying. It also resulted in a few more students attending his after-hours class.

The basketball season was over and the baseball season had started. The school usually had a good baseball team and this year was no exception. Noah had attended a few games and would agree with what Kate said that Justin was an all-around good player. In talking with Hal Ryan, a fellow teacher and the baseball coach, Hal confirmed that there were a few colleges that were interested in Justin. Hal said that Western had offered Justin a full ride.

It wasn’t till the third game that Noah met Kate at a baseball game. She looked just as good as he remembered her to be. She also had that same winning personality. Kate did say that unless UT offered Justin a baseball ride, he would accept the offer from Western. With Justin still living at home, Noah still was hesitant to ask Kate out. He thought that Justin opening the front door to see Noah standing there to date his mother was a situation Noah would like to avoid. Noah would try and do that in the future when Justin was away at college.

The school session had ended which had Noah wondering what he would be doing during the summer besides dictating newspaper columns. Noah had a Master’s degree which gave him a teaching salary that he was satisfied with, so he didn’t plan on any more schooling to increase it. He turned down the offer to teach summer school. His summers were free, but how this time would be spent was undecided. That was his situation till he received a phone call from Larry Betterman, an old friend of his from school.

Larry said his parents, who owned a cottage next to a lake in northwest Texas, had decided to take a vacation and do a two-week tour of Europe. With the cottage being available, Larry asked if Noah wanted to go there with him. He said they could play golf, do some fishing and see what the action was at the local pubs. Noah told him that sounded like something he would like to do, and to count him in.

In anticipation of making this trip, Noah took the time to prepare himself and he dictated six columns. Topics covered were amnesty, censorship, tell-all books, taxes, professional athletes’ salaries, and airplane travel. With the obligation of writing columns taken care of, he was looking forward to this trip to northwest Texas.

It was an easy drive to the cottage since it was mainly interstate driving. The cottage was located about two hundred miles northwest of Austin. Before going to the cottage, they stopped at the nearby town and purchased some food provisions and liquid refreshments.

The cottage itself was a nice-sized two-bedroom cottage with all the amenities. There was a fourteen-foot boat they could use for fishing. The signal booster and rotor on the television antenna gave them adequate television reception but there was no cable or internet service there. Because of that, Noah told Larry they were “roughing it.”

It was an overall relaxing twelve days in northwest Texas. The fishing was done by casting a Mr. Twister type of lure. Quite a few bass struck this lure and were reeled in. Most of these fish were close to or just over the size limit. A few of the fish over the size limit provided a tasty, delicious fish chowder dinner. Other meals were taken at the local restaurants and pubs in the area.

They golfed at four golf courses in the area which had reasonable green fees and were in good condition. The courses weren’t overly challenging if you could hit the ball straight and avoid being in the tall rough. In these golfing endeavors, as well as visiting the local pubs, there were no meaningful female relationships established. Noah thought that it was too much to hope that something like that would happen. The trip was nice and when it was over, Noah told Larry he would like to do something like this again, while at the same time, he was glad to be home.