Fink's Photograph

Take a picture of the most Seattle thing you can, he said. I didn't have my camera, but anyways – a woman in dreads is standing with her pooch companion by her feet. Around her, like budded flowers, are red signs for Kshama Sawant, the popular socialist candidate running for Seattle City Council. Kshama Sawant, Kshama Sawant, Kshama Sawant. The woman plucks from the ground a different red sign, not for Sawant, but one urging voters to strike down prop 522, which demands clear labeling of foods with GMOs. Monsanto is the biggest donator funding the VOTE NO ON 522 campaign, but even their devilish pile of money cannot keep this woman's fingers from tearing their signs into tiny, tiny snowflakes.

On Mercer Island, Before the Interview

The onlookers in Starbucks can only have so many revelations a day, and there I am, wearing a suit and tie and rooting around under a woman's chair for Fleck's dropped copy of Pokémon Gold.

In Montana

In Montana we wake up and Fleck claims to see the face of John Ratzenberger in the folds of the tent.