Multitasks

Contents:
Multitasks
Murder Mystery
Winter Question
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When one has much to put into them, a day has a hundred pockets.

Friedrich Nietzsche
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It has been said by some psychologists that women's minds work differently than men's do. I don't know why they say that or even if it's true. But one thing I have observed is that most of the creatures known as "mothers" seem capable of doing anything and doing it under very confusing circumstances. I don't know if their minds are programmed to do that or if it's an acquired skill, but I know that I would be inclined to wait for or to create the right circumstances before I took on some of the tasks I've seen mothers perform.

One of my favorite sights is to sit on my front porch ad watch the women go by on the sidewalk pushing the baby, walking the dog and talking on the cell phone all at the same time. It's called multi-tasking and the mothers of the world seem to take to it as if they were genetically designed for it. It's an enviable talent.

But I'm the kind of a guy who puts his nose to a task and doesn't stop until it's done. I tend to resent any interruptions, even if they are important ones. I am also a list maker. I know that I will never accomplish in the day all the tasks that are on the list but at least with a llst sitting in fron of me I'm not liable to forget any of them.

At one time I lived alone in one small room. I would take all my bills, letters that needed answering and any other important documents and throw them on the floor. Since I lived alone the mess didn't bother anyone. But it bothered me and every now and then I would pick one up and deal with it, whatever it was. The important tasks were always under foot and so they got done.

Today is my birthday and how am I going to spend it? Cleaning my apartment. I took out the vacuum cleaner and now it's in the middle of the floor. Now then the vacuum cleaner is not going to clean the floor by itself, but as long as it is underfoot sooner or later it will get used.

Birthdays are frustrating things anyway. They only last one day and then it's over with. The Christian calendar forces you into Lent to get you ready for Easter, then it gives you Advent to get you ready for Christmas, which seems to go on forever. Other religions have big holidays. The Muslim Ramadan lasts for a while. But unless you are some important potentate your birthday comes and goes in a flash. So I've come to not treating mine with much of a fuss.

There was a time not long ago when that was different. I belonged to a club called the Birthday Club. There were four members. When one of us had a birthday we would plan and pay for a fun event for the other three. One time we went to the Bronx Zoo, another time we walked the boardwalk along the Atlantic Ocean in Brooklyn and another time we helped the celebrater to move to another apartment. Moving is fun and stress free when it's not your stuff. Then he bought us a big dinner since he didn't have to pay a mover. Those were good birthdays.

So now I'm a year older and a year slower. So what. I'm still amazed at what I can pull out of my pockets to accomplish.

DB - The Vagabond
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What happened to old Jasper Fingerhut?

A murder mystery in 7 sections.

Section 1

The police came soon after Brett Salazar called them. He had called to report seeing a man floating face down in a quiet part of the Borden River. A police wagon soon arrived and they fished the man out of the water to take him to the morgue. He was dead.

The man was old, barefoot, wearing large brown corduroy trousers and a tattered and torn blue shirt. There was nothing in his pockets. He had a large metal cross around his neck and on his left middle finger a ring in the shape of a skull with a small green stone in the left eye socket, the other socket was empty. No one recognized him.

Doctor Skinner, the Bordentown Medial Examiner, received the corpse from the morgue and began his examination to determine time and cause of death and any other important information he could find about the mysterious dean man.

While this was happening Boris Klipton, Professor of Art History at Bordentown State Teachers College, was way upstream. Sitting by the river, he was working on his latest book. It was an account of recent unsolved art thefts.

During his interview with Detective Rice Turner, Brett Salazar, testified of hearing four gunshots in the distance long before he saw the body. When Detective Turner asked him what he was doing at the river, Brett answered that he was planning to fish but had forgotten his fishing gear and was about to go home when he spotted the dead man floating in the water.
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What killed the man in the river?
Section 2 tomorrow.
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DB . The Vagabond
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WINTER QUESTION
(This is not a contest)

What was the most significant event that happened in 2010?

dbdacoba@aol.com

Will you people get your act together and answer this question, please?
Only 7 responses so far. Winter is almost over.
DB
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