Finally I did notice some cowboy hats in the next room and I walked in. I found a small hat which appeared to be made of black leather and which had a map of Texas on its top. I tried it on but I didn't don't really like it and I put it back down. It looked as if it were pretty expensive anyway. I also noticed some cowboy hats here. Finally I found a black cowboy hat and I tried it on.

When I had first entered the store, I had been alone. But now other people had entered and finally the man who owned the store walked in. He saw me and looked concerned because I was trying things on. But after he recognized you, he decided it was all right and he walked away.

I noticed some chocolate drops wrapped in silver aluminum foil lying on a shelf. I picked a couple and ate them one after the other.

Finally I walked outside and noticed a large bridge spanning a river. However the bridge was closed off, and it looked as if it were going to be torn down. I suddenly had the idea that it would be nice to buy the bridge and build houses on it. I thought the idea was splendid and that I should try to find out who owned the bridge and try to buy it. I wondered if I would be able to sell the houses, thinking people might be somewhat wary of buying them. People might be concerned about the foundations of the bridge and worried that it might fall down. I would have to check all that out before I bought the bridge. But I thought I could probably get it cheap, perhaps for as little as $2,000. It seemed as if it would be a good deal.

Meanwhile, I ran into Cathy, talked with her and thought about walking across the bridge with her. But a yellow car pulled up and somehow Cathy fell into the car, damaging it and hurting herself. I also managed to hurt myself. Finally we both ended up leaning on each other in support and we walked off together.

***

Jon had shown up and begun looking at a video tape which someone had taken of Cathy and me. on was very suspicious of Cathy and me and he thought something might be going on between us. He played the video to see what was going on when she and I were alone. I wasn't there while Jon was looking at the tape, but I knew know he was looking at it. I knew there was nothing wrong in the tape. I didn't care about seeing it myself, but I was afraid Jon might misinterpret it when he saw Cathy and me with our arms around each other.

Finally Cathy and I joined up with Jon, but he didn't say anything about having seen the tape. We all boarded a car and headed out of town. On the way, I noticed a large, intricately designed court house. It appeared to be constructed from large dark brown stones, although part of the lower section seemed to have been painted over with a light brown paint. The courthouse also had some columns. The bases at the bottom of the columns had been painted black. Either Jon or Cathy said that the black paint used on the bases wasn't very good.

A band consisting of perhaps 30-40 high school students wearing red and white uniforms was in front of the courthouse. I glanced at them and thought about how I had never belonged to a high school band. But I thought at least now that I was a lawyer, I had some skills which I could use. It had taken a while for me to develop my own identity, but now I had developed the identity of a lawyer. That made me feel somewhat good.

As we rode along, I continued thinking about the tape and wondering if Jon was suspicious that something was going on between Cathy and me. I wanted to explain to him that nothing was going on, but I was unsure how to do it. I thought the only way I could honestly tell him was to tell him that I simply didn't find Cathy to be attractive. But I hated to do that because I didn't want to hurt Cathy's feelings. I reflected that even though I didn't find Cathy attractive, I had noticed that I did enjoy her company and I had even felt at times like putting my arms around her and hugging her. It would just be for the warmth of being close to her, and not for any romantic reasons. But I didn't know how I could explain any of this to Jon.

Finally we arrived at a house which reminded me of the House on the West Side. When I walked inside, it seemed as if my father and my mother were there. Everyone in the house was supposed to be silent and it seemed as if everyone in the house had taken a vow not to speak. I realized that was going to make it difficult for me to explain to Jon about Cathy and me. Plus, what were we going to do if there was some kind of emergency? Maybe in that case I would write something on a piece of paper. I thought the whole thing was going to be interesting, although I wasn't yet sure just how I was going to do it.