Dud sat quietly this morning at the daily meeting of the World Dilemma Think Tank … that’s Dud and the guys, of course.

Herb had brought some new jokes with him as a way of pumping new adrenaline into our winter conversational doldrums. They weren’t all THAT good, but we all laughed, and Dud smiled a little.

“You’re quiet this morning, Dud,” said Steve. “Everything okay?”

“Oh sure,” he said, smiling. “Just wondering about what goes on in a guy’s mind when he’s on special assignment.”

“You’re on special assignment for who now?”

“Not me, Doc,” Dud said. “I was just wondering what thoughts a man might have if he volunteered to be a truck driver on special assignment in eastern Europe.”

Ahhhh….. the book again. The oft-rewritten, oft-rejected novel.

“That’s right. So what would make a guy take his 18 wheeler to somewhere Dracula used to live and drive it around on government orders until the assignment is complete?”

“What’s the assignment?”

“I don’t know yet. The truck driver is still waiting for his assignment to come through.”

“So …” Doc tries to be kind …”the truck driver takes his own 18-wheeler to eastern Europe and drives around with an old girlfriend who happens to be a duchess and lives in a castle, but he doesn’t know why he’s there?”

“Well … pretty much. Sounds strange when you put it like that.”

“In this book you’re writing,” Steve asked, “is the government buying the diesel for him to drive around?”

“Haven’t worked that out yet, either, Steve.”

Writing a book can be a real chore.