Maxwell is back!

I must apologize to my formerly faithful readers for being AWOL all these months. I have no excuses, but plenty of reasons that I hope you will understand. Here are some of them:

The newspaper for which I write gave me a more substantial job than just being a freelance columnist, so now I actually make a living with my writing. I also moved to an apartment that has room for more than one person and a small family of cockroaches. Then I spent two months in seclusion in a ranch-like retreat in Montana.

Why, you might ask, did all these things take place? Hmmmm?

Because Winnie and I got married.

That’s right—we got married. At the end of the summer things started heating up for us. I looked at my reflection in the mirror one morning and asked myself if I wanted to risk spending the rest of my pathetic life without Winnie. I knew that I didn’t, so I took her out to a nice restaurant and then on an evening walk at the edge of town near a lake where people stroll on warm summer nights.

I looked at her and thought about how she was alone in the world—her mother gone, her father and brother acting like thuggish trolls—and how I was alone as well. In the time that I’d known her she had changed my perception of her being uptight and prudish to someone with great depth and beauty. I began to consider myself to be a slob not worthy of her company, which was probably a good place to start.

I asked her to marry me, and she said yes without inquiring about my financial status or potential genetic anomalies. She wanted a small, quiet wedding, one in which her remaining relatives would not be invited. My parents were there, my sister and Daisy showed up, and most of the good folks from The End of Time filled in the rest of the gaps. Father Gene did the honors, which might have broken a few church rules, but I don’t think he cared.

Much to my surprise, The Forb and Limerick Bill got together and sprang for the honeymoon at the retreat in Montana. Apparently The Forb had some old business connections that owed him favors. I was able to email my work to the newspaper, and Winnie and I had a great time in the wilds of Montana for two months.

So that’s the story. Now that we’re back and teetering on a life that is respectable, Life at the End of Time will resume. There’s more to tell, of course, but that will have to wait. Stay tuned.