---Michael Acklin   

    I've forgotten to pay my rent. All the fancy VA drugs don't seem to do much in this direction. My apartment manager is understanding and is being nice, but this "Mudcat Remembers" title is a bit misleading. It would better be called "Whatever  I Manage to Remember," and of that, who can say what's true or what isn't?
    Me, I suppose.
    There's been another spate of passngs, which I'll leave to Mr. Treadway's gentle touch. Mine is a bit ham-fisted lately.
    One of the nice things about Fayetteville is the large number of Boston Islanders living around here and the help they've provided with chores from typing to dishwashing to just sitting around the place yakking, playing with the dog, washing dishes (!), and swapping lies.
    The Corner Grill is nearer to live music than everyone feared when it burned. TL, Charles, Dan, and all the crew and families keep the attitude up and nay-saying down. They will survive and I count on Sunday Brunch as I do upon sunrise.
    In nine days I will be 63 years old. I am not sure if that means anything to anyone but me and my mom, who's 86 this year. We compare notes on nap-scheduling, family rumours, and old recipes. So far I've managed to pry from the vault both the marinated rare marinated cucumber exercise and the closely-guarded Squash Relish from Slovak.
    A couple of times a month I talk to Peter  Read, who asssuress me I ahould contine write about this stuff. Since I've always done what PR tells me to do, why quit now just because the subject is depressing amd morbid?
    The outcome of this is uncontrollable. One's future, imaginary as an UmpaLumpa, is erased. Dreams are limited in duration to a year or so and, though I don't care for whiners, I'm rapidly morphing into an almost blueprinted patient…(what a word, eh?)
    So what choice do I take?
    Never been a poster boy.
    Not going gently into that good night, but I have little choice but to roll the bottoms of my trousers, set out for the sea, and trust the dog to let me know when & whether I should eat that peach…