Back in New York

I got a lecture from the Customs officer at JFK about "correspondents" not being very good "correspondents". I was too tired to get angry. Then he stamped my passport and handed me a chocolate Kiss. So I really couldn't be mad at him then...

I fell asleep in the taxi on the way home from the airport.

The flight was late getting in, avoiding all of the bad weather. The little televised map on the plane showing our route had us a veering all over the Northeast. We snaked our way from Canada to New York after hitting some jolting turbulence. We headed inland. I wondered, along with the woman sitting next to me, Ann, if we were diverting to Chicago. Then we turned South, then back out to sea, then back inland. We both watched the map, fascinated, every time the plane banked to turn.

And with each change in direction the "Time to Destination" added another minute or two. By the time we finally landed, I was nearly crazy.

That's when I was lectured by my favorite Customs agent. I've had him before.

I slept five hours. Then I started wandering the streets. At one point I'd forgotten WHY I was on the streets, and where I was supposed to be heading.

I ran in to my neighbor from upstairs, and her 6 year old son. She asked me about Iraq (although she never mentioned it by name). Then he started asking who the "bad guys" were and we tried to change the subject. He wasn't giving up easily. He asked if I'd ever SEEN any bad guys, where they were exactly, and what made them bad. I told him I never saw any bad guys because 1) I had a dog and 2) I tended to hang out with the good guys.

That seemed to sastify him (briefly).

Soldier says there's a cold, hard, white moon tonight. The eclipse. I wish I was in Baghdad watching it with him. It is now mid-day in New York City and I have no idea what I'm supposed to be doing.

Except staring blankly at my computer screen.

I just got an emailed military statement and forwarded it to my copy desk. Three soldiers "killed when an improvised explosive device exploded next to their vehicle in central Baghdad".