School has started and the leaves are starting to turn and it's been quiet lately at Bill's Café in Hillcrest. The boys complain about the dry weather, but then they've all heard that before. Fortunately a bout of rain in August helped the corn crop, so the soybeans and corn are both looking good.
Occasionally the conversation wanders close to politics, but the boys are careful to quickly change the subject. All of them are already tired of political commercials. Advertising just convinces them that both parties are full of hypocrites. When voting time comes they'll vote, of course, because they've always done it, but they'll close their eyes and hold their noses when they cast their ballot. If there was a "Give me another choice" on the ballot, they'd eagerly choose that.
Over in Maple Valley, Mrs. Lois Sand has appeared in the Sheriff's report regularly of late, guarding her apple trees from squirrels with her .22. Of course she's extra careful where she shoots, and her aim is spectacularly accurate, but the law is the law. No shooting of firearms in city limits. Even if the shooter is Lois Sand.
No news of significance out of Paradise. As far as the rest of Ironwood County is concerned, that is very good news. Everyone seems to have forgotten about the sordid events recounted in John Schreiber's book Passing Through Paradise, and that is how the county likes it.
