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Saturday, April 1, 2000
One year ago: April Fool
Two years ago: Foolery
It was a bright, sunny morning. Jack got down here fairly early. He wanted to go looking for his daughter A----. (The evidence that she might be in the area was the phone call he'd gotten from her on Thursday.)
We walked down to Broadway, then from one end to the other. It's sad seeing the street kids (though we were on the early side, and there weren't too many around at first), but it's especially sad when you are looking at them, trying to recognize a face. Jack's daughter fits the type of a lot of teen girls, so we kept seeing girls who might be her. Jack had his binoculars, and would look up and down the street at likely groups.
After cruising the area, we got on the bus and rode over to the University District and did the same thing. We ran into Ron Drummond, a local sf fan I know from Vanguard, and he walked with us for several blocks. We didn't share with him about the mission we were on; instead we left him with the impression that we were just hanging out on the Ave. Indeed, in different circumstances we might have done that!
We did stop at the University Bookstore and made some purchases -- those books are heavy! And the drawstrings in the bags they give you were cutting into my wrists.
After looking up the youth shelter in the phone book, we walked over. But it was closed. So we took the bus back home again.
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When we'd been going out of town, I'd thought that I'd miss Vanguard. But we decided to go, since we were around. I drove, making another circuit through Broadway and the U district on the way. Jack even visited a youth night shelter in the U district, talking to the person in charge and leaving a note for his daughter, in case she turned up there.
This whole scenario did seem like something from a movie, the father searching the streets for his daughter. Jack knew, intellectually, that there wasn't too much chance of running across her. But he had to try!
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The was the first time that Ryan had hosted Vanguard, a monthly fannish social gathering. He wanted to show off his new house up in the Wedgewood neighborhood. It's a cute house, and a nice area. We were a bit later than I usually arrive, but there wasn't a huge crowd. I'd invited my dance buddy Earl to try us out, and he had indeed shown up. He said later that he'd enjoyed it; we'll see if he comes again.
Ryan's house had a very large, multi-level deck in the back, which was the smoking area. The smokers gathered back there and discussed fannish mailing list goings-on.
It was a good vanguard, but we didn't stay very late. But when you consider the time change...
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