volume one IN THE D U D L E Y C L A R K - Ohio Vine Tours

knows the entire inventory? That had required hours and hours
taken away from his life. Hours he could have spent pursuing
other things, like Carrom or juggling, or Jai Lai. Instead, he
chose to burrow into the inventory of the Wailing Wall.
That should count for something.
The small music store is empty, except for them. This is not
unusual during the day when the freaks are still in bed groaning
from the various drugs they have run through their systems for so
many years.
Roy nears the apocalyptic counter covered with crude,
graphic sexual acts.
The guy flips through the cardboard box of LPs. Every
now and then he selects one, scans its cover, then sets it aside on
another part of the counter where several other canted stacks
rise.
Roy is concerned about two things. For one, he is not certain
how to get the guy’s attention since the guy is not looking his way,
and since the music is turned up so loud. It is turned up so loud
that Roy doubts the guy would hear him if he let loose a shotgun
blast.
His second concern stems directly from his first. Assuming he
does manage to get the guy’s attention, how will be hear a word
he says?
Roy hates to shout, loathes raising his voice. His brother Rick
always shouts and yells and farts out loud. Roy would not like to
be mistaken for his brother. He figures that people who (and who
wouldn’t?) find his brother objectionable must also judge Roy just
as objectionable, simply by association.
Maybe that’s why Santa never left anything for Christmas.
There is a word, among many, that Roy doesn’t know:
propinquity.
Propinquity is one of the main factors that lead to
interpersonal attraction as described by British philosopher,
Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832). The Propinquity Effect is the
tendency for people to form relationships of many kinds based
on the frequency with which they encounter each other. For
example, tenants in an apartment building who share the same
12 ROY ROGERS IN THE 21ST CENTURY