Kage Baker did not bow gracefully to the inevitable. She fought and connived like crazy to get what she wanted, and no effort was too great if if there was chance of success. And in Kage’s mind, there was always a chance.

True, sometimes these deeply calculated and convoluted plots were over such earthshaking goals as the sugar-water filled wax oranges once sold at a candy store in Cayucos: but not when we found our way back there 30 years later. No, no matter how often I quartered the town nor how many old storekeepers Kage desperately questioned. I  got a headache from the glare of sun on the sea at the end of every street. Finally Kage went into a Rite Aid while I waited tiredly in the car, returning finally with a giant bottle of Excedrin and a can of Hawaiian Punch.

“Here,” she said, handing me the enormous bottle. “I decided to splurge.”

Which cracked me up. But as we slowly left the environs of Cayucos, she pointed to one faded storefront, and said sadly, “It was right there, I tell you. I’m sure.”

It was one of her few failures.

But she did learn to cope with those rare moments where even her memory and dimension-altering powers failed. It was easier, she always averred, the the weather was grey – the entire world changed when you couldn’t see the sun. That was Kage’s theory.The places where the worlds touched got harder to find, and all the doors stuck when you tried to open them …

It was deliciously grey and cool  here today in Los Angeles. It’s supposed to be grey and cool for days and days; we even have a chance of rain. I slept until noon and had a three hour nap at three o’clock. As far as I am concerned, there is no world to worry about today – just drowses and dreams, memories and left-over Chinese food from last night. No sudden urges or prodigious hunts. Even Kage would leave the heroes in her head to their own devices on a day like this.

And so have I. And will I. Gonna go read and watch bad monster movies before an early night claims me.

I am resolute in this resolve, I tell you.