Text msg to Donatello: “On my way.  Driving north  from SF via Interstate 5.  Stopping at Berry Patch in Orland for breakfast.”

HADLEY:  Only a week to go at SFMOMA. Been cleaning apartment and packing.

DONATELLO:  Counting down the days.

HADLEY:  So what’s going on in Normal?  Anything I should know about?

DONATELLO:  Nope, nothing. Just working and hanging with Jimmy. It’s kind of cramped in the library.

HADLEY: Head Curator, Normal Historical Museum.  Impressive, if I do say so myself.

DONATELLO:  We’re gonna rock this town.  Normal ain’t seen nothing yet.

HADLEY:  I just keep wondering who this mystery person is who put up the 19 Mil for the museum.

DONATELLO:  You mean specifically, who’s the guy who hired you without an interview?

HADLEY” Well, yeah, it would be nice to know. I googled every conceivable person.

DONATELLO:  Consider it a lucky break and don’t ask questions.

HADLEY:  Do you think it’s Colby Stone?  I mean who else would even be interested in creating a museum?

DONATELLO:  Nah. There was a rumor it was him, but Colby does nothing anonymously.  Anyhow, it’s not his thing.

HADLEY:  Colby Stone! I still can’t believe I’ll be in such close proximity to him. An icon. A visionary.

DONATELLO:  A BILLIONNAIRE… Just remember Hadley, when you’re having his baby, he’s married now, and he’ll be married then.

HADLEY:  A likely scenario, Donnie. Me, the queen of scandals!  Nothing interesting ever happens around me.

DONATELLO:   Somehow I think that’s gonna change.   They don’t call this place Normal for nothing.

Tesla, pot, and an anonymous donor

Trying to stay on the down-low here, but this chick Kira Benson, who works at the Pick Me Up, saw me – ooh’d and ah’d - and fed me some of her homemade carrot cake.  She’s a good one to know because everyone comes to the Pick Me Up and she hears it all.

Colby Stone, our esteemed Mayor, is hot for her – just don’t tell his wife.  He uses his Tesla to seduce young things the way Tiger uses his wood.

But enough about testosterone – or maybe because of it – the BIG NEWS in town is the spanking new, still under construction, Normal Historical Museum, funded by an anonymous VC.  There are a couple of new hires related to it:  Donatello Stefani, the whiz kid who’s designing state-of-the art holographic/CGI displays set to blow a few minds. He’s been here a while, straight from Pixar.  And now Hadley Reese is relocating from SF’s Museum of Modern Art, as head curator.  Question #1: who the heck hired her?

Call me psychic:  Hadley’ll be up in everyone’s grill trying to unearth relics for her museum, and the fur’s gonna fly, I guarantee. Question #2: who’ll be the first to call foul?

In the here and now, I suspect Kira’s carrot cake has her not-so-secret special ingredient, as I’m definitely feeling the love and moving into a state of altered consciousness.  A giddy guinea with the munchies coming on.  Not good.  Need grass – the regular kind.

So while I’m still sure-footed -  over and out, from the land of Nod.

Kira Benson, waitress at the Pick Me Up

Colby Stone, billionaire Mayor of Normal

Donatello Stefani, special effects wizard

Hadley Reese, curator, Historical Museum