This is a book of short interviews that don't need long descriptions. The setting is a small river city called Bongwater On The Mississippi, which is theoretically across the river from Mark Twain's boyhood home. Times have changed, but people are similar. We follow the lives of the Gimplet Triplets, Crazy Carbone, The Southside Gang, The River Rats, The Streaks, and their associates and adversaries. Ah, what a bunch of misfits and normals speak to the doc at the Babbling Brook Listening Center. Enjoy this book. I wrote it for y'all. Maharg Ydobon PSz.

Bio Info for Maharg Ydobon Age = Old; birthdate lost in ancient history and political disruptions. Maybe he was born soon after WW2 somewhere in a now dislocated jurisdiction, possibly Europe or South America or somewhere else. But, it seems he must have been in elementary school in the early 1960s. He claims to have been in anti-war and civil rights protests during the Nixon years. Ethnicity = Other; has ties to various ethnicities and claims allegiance to none of them. Claims to have come from "the old world", and that most of the Ydobon family didn't choose to come to this backwater planet... (Maybe there will be something of this vein in future books?) Language = Spanglish (border mixture of Spanish & English) and BuHdobyan (huh?), but his first language is "ba-baba-baby-talk..." Family = Multiple members of extended family, many of whom are now deceased. Favorite Auntie just passed away in her late eighties. Mama died at the same age a few years ago. Some brothers are still in contact, and through them are many nephews and nieces. Heck, life goes on and you lose some and gain some and it all comes out "even steven" - except when it doesn't. Work = Various Jobs & Businesses. "The first regular job I remember was walking bean fields in the brutal heat and humidity of the Mississippi River Valley, hoeing out all of the weeds while being careful to protect the plants. Yeah, I made a whopping 65 cents an hour for that menial labor. "Over the years there have been many jobs and businesses. Gradually the pay got better as did the amount of control I had over my life. "Recently a client told me my rates were way too low for the market, and that I should increase my base rate (for just showing up and not doing any real work) to more than double. I considered that absurd, but increased my hourly rate (including work) by about 20 percent. "Reality Check! My rates haven't really gone up that much. Our economy is in such a mess that our dollars are becoming worthless, and you have to get a lot more of them to buy the basic stuff that most people need. That's called 'transitory inflation', and has been going on for hundreds of years... "So, somebody's $100 per hour rate now is maybe equivalent to a wage of $10 an hour back when I was growing up. Okay, that was a living wage for a seasoned technician. You could support a family on that if you were frugal....