Ben spent much of Saturday at Capclave, a science fiction conference in the area. He is becoming a well-known writer, and moderated one discussion and took part in another. While he was there, we went to Great Falls on the Potomac River with Esther, Noah and Aviva. It was a beautiful day, sunny, blue sky and about 24° (Celcius!); it was wonderful to see the sun again after a week of almost unbroken cloud cover, and walk around in a short-sleeved shirt (even though I am still regretting that, because the mosquitoes discovered how good I taste). In the evening, we ate at an Afghan restaurant, then spent more time discussing two subjects you’re supposed to avoid: theology and politics 😉 .
Ben shares a neighbour’s wireless internet connection. On Saturday morning, the connection ceased inexplicably, and was still not working by the time we left on Sunday. Ben started to think that saving the monthly subscription fee may not be worth the inconvenience…
On Sunday, Ben and Esther made an early start with the kids; Ben was at the science fiction conference again. We followed later, arriving just after the start of Ben’s reading. He read two of his stories – one as yet unpublished Shrek-style twist of a fairytale with his typical social commentary and humour, and an older story, “The Orange”. Afterwards, he signed his book “Other Cities”, containing the excellent “Ylla’s Choice”, “Bellur”, “Ponge” and others. There was even a bonus at the signing: a bookmark made by Aviva. She drew a fierce monster on mine, and a smiling one on Mary-Anne’s. I thought that was strange.
We left Ben and Esther just after midday, and drove a slightly roundabout route to Allentown, where we are now: from Washington over Chesapeake Bay, past Millington (where we failed to find the advertised restaurant), through Wilmington, and past Philadelphia. The bridge over Chesapeake Bay is impressive, and gave me my first daytime sight of the Atlantic. (I’d seen it at night when I landed at Boston.)