stamp or sticker

C and I went for a long walk today in the pouring rain--to the bank and then the library. He has had all this pent up energy lately and needed more exercise than a 6 week old puppy (literally runs circles around the living room). He and I play chase at top speed in the house almost daily, and he usually walks at least 2 miles total on Paco walks, but still, the energy is amazing (wish he could lend Sarah some!).

Before arriving at the bank we were discussing how if he got Jeff as a teller, he could count on a red "protest" rubber stamp on his hand. Jeff is a nice older guy who is the town's Santa at Christmas time, when C was going through the getting his hand stamped at every business phase--library [due date], post office ["first class"!]--he recognized C's spirit of dissent early on...

But if we got Alicia as a teller, he'd most likely get his pick of a sticker (unlikely to have pollution machine stickers to choose from, but at least it's a sticker). Alicia is a younger woman, possibly Jeff's daughter, who fills in as Santa's helper (they give out candy canes, and they don't even have any Evergreen Bank logo on them or anything :) There are other tellers, but these are the regulars..

Sure enough, those were the choices, and we ended up in the sticker window (though Jeff went out of his way to say hi to us even though he was with other customers). She cut the sticker out with the backing still on so he could use it later--his preference. We'll have to remember it's in his rain jacket "velcro pocket."

At the library we ran into a woman who had helped organized the Sept. 11 forum the library hosted (the Bill of Rights was read, followed by a discussion/meeting with our local state senator, a history/poly sci. prof and the public). She thanked C and I for our attendance (albiet short--there was a lot of work to do for democracy that day), and I thanked her for the forum, a wonderful idea in my opinion. The library has been excellent regarding protecting civil liberties (they don't keep any records after books and materials are returned, so no sneek/peek available--sorry to the men in black).

We didn't have to look hard for puddles on the way home.

I like small towns...