Overheard at Chipperfields' ... Part XLIII ...

J-- and The Rev were sitting in the corner chatting and laughing when one of the other regulars strolled in the door.

"Morning," the regular said to the four folks crashed out on the couches at the front of the store, as he rounded the corner he greeted Dani behind the counter, "Good morning,"

"Morning," Dani replied, "what would you like?"

"A medium Colombian, and a cinnamon wedge please," answered the regular, "can you bring it to the table?"

"Sure thing," said Dani smiling.

The regular sat down with The Rev and J--, as he did Joanie walked in the front door with her mom.

"Hey stranger," J-- smiled as he stood up and walked over to Joanie and gave her a hug, "How is school going?" He asked.

"Great," replied Joanie, "I'm having a good time, and it's actually kind of fun."

"That's good," said J-- smiling as he sat down, "will you join us? Just pull up a chair."

"Sure, let me get a coffee first," Joanie said as she turned to the counter and greeted Dani and Bonnie with a smile, "Long time no see."

"Well, I DID talk to you on the phone last week," laughed Dani, "when I meant to phone Bonnie about something and called you instead."

"Really?" said Bonnie, looking shocked, "Did you get the answer you were looking for?"

"Absolutely," laughed Joanie, "I haven't been gone that long ..."

"So, how's things?" asked Bonnie, smiling.

"More or less okay," said Joanie, knowing that J-- and The Rev were listening too.

"More or Less okay?" repeated The Rev, "what does more or less okay mean?"

"Well school is great," said Joanie, "but I have some whack job out there who is kind of stalking me."

"Gee, that seems to be a recurring theme around this place lately," laughed J-- as he picked up his coffee and took a sip, "Just ask Ross about his son's problems."

"Well, it's not that he ..." Joanie paused as Bonnie handed her a Latte, "It's not that he is stalking me, it's just that he, and I'm assuming it's a He. It's just that he has been visiting my web blog that I set up every half an hour all day long ..."

"How do you know THAT?" asked The Rev, clearly intrigued.

"I have a visit counter on the blog that tells me who has been there, where they are from and how long they've been on ..." answered Joanie as she sat down, "I know where the guy lives, and so when I check the meter I can see how often I've gotten hits from that place."

"Could be a coincidence," offered J--.

"Could be, but I doubt it," answered Joanie, "the guy ain't well, and has issues and ..."

"You don't want to be one of them ..." interupted The Rev.

"Exactly," answered Joanie, "but so far there isn't much I can do about it, other then to know that out there somewhere a whack job is obsessing over my blog ..."

"I can appreciate that," laughed The Rev, "so long as the aliens don't tell him you're their queen or anything like that ..."

Joanie nodded her head in agreement.

"You should post something on your blog about him," said the regular between mouthfuls of cinnamon wedge, "just to let him know you KNOW he's out there."

Joanie's face clouded, she looked worried, "I don't know if I'd want to do THAT." she said nervously, "It's bad enough that he's on my site a dozen or more times a day, but I dn't want to do ANYTHING that might encourage him even for a moment."

"That's true," said the regular, reconsidering his comment, "I hadn't thought of it that way. I just thought if you wrote - 'to the visitor from Toronto: I know you're out there ..." He might take the hint and move on."

"Oh he might take the hint and move from basically a harmless whacko to something worse," observed The Rev.

"Yeah," said Joanie nervously.

"Oh I hadn't even considered that," said the Regular, "I think I'll just go back to my cinnamon wedge now and keep my opinions to myself."

The three others around the table chuckled.

"You know, there are always crazy people around," observed J--, "heck, in all of my time living here in town I've seen lots of them come and go. And by and large most of them are harmless. But all of them sure have been entertaining."

"Ain't that right," agreed The Rev as he lifted his coffee and took a sip, "but when they decide to take a run at you, there is no entertainment then ..."

"True enough," said J--, then taking note of The Rev's biking helmet and gloves sitting on the side of the table, said, "Oh, you're riding your bike again today?? Still haven't got your license back yet for that DWI??"

The Rev laughed, "Ha ha. And speaking of non-entertaining crazy people," he paused to set down his coffee mug, "Whoever started that rumour needs some serious help. I'm coming up on 40 and I want to lose some extra padding ... and so as I bike around town everyone decides to listens to some brainless yahoo saying - "Oh The Rev got nailed for impaired. That's why he's biking everywhere." Really nice ..."

"Ah, the non-entertaining side of rumours and crazy people," laughed Joanie, "you just have to drive up and down Main St like the teenagers with the music blaring so they know you're driving."

"He does that ALL the time," laughed J--, "that just gets them going more. They see him and say - 'Oh look, he's even driving without a license ...'" J-- concluded with a shrug.

"Sounds like you just can't win for trying," said Joanie.

"Exactly," agreed The Rev, "I don't mind people talking about me, I just prefer that they keep it in the realm of truth and reality ..."

"Rumours. Truth. And Reality," said J--, "Now there are three words that just don't fit together."

"Got that right," laughed The Rev, "especially in the lives of people who would obssess over blogsites."

"Now, that is very true," agreed Joanie as she smiled.