He's waiting for me in front of the cafe, his coffee resting on the hood of his car.
There's been a chinook, it's warm outside, the clouds have been blown ragged by the westerly winds. He's shielding his eyes from the sun and looking into the sky.
"They're spraying again...." he begins.
I look up into the sky, the contrails, like the clouds, have been blown ragged by the chinook winds.
"Chemtrails" he offers by way of explanation, but I didn't need one. "They're spraying. Look at it. Barium, Aluminum, microscopic bits of plastic, dessicated red blood cells...".
I don't want to encourage him, but the plastic, the red blood cells, that's got me curious....
"Shall we have a cigarette?" He's got my coffee already and we go around the side of the cafe to smoke.
He's looking at the sky. Shielding his eyes, explaining to me how you can tell a chemtrail from a contrail. I try to draw the line, the perfect balance between a polite level of interest and changing the topic...
An older couple approach, they want to tie their dog to the trash where we're smoking, we stand back, he points to the sky, they turn to look...
"They're spraying again. Chemtrails. Poisonous chemicals. Barium, Aluminum. Plastic. Dessicated red blood cells...."
They look back at him, quizically.
"It's all online. They're trying to poison us. Weaken our immune system. It's part of a trillion dollar top secret military project based out of Dayton, Ohio."
The woman interrupts. "You're joking, aren't you?"
I'm standing back, beside him, trying to signal her with my eyes, my face, don't want to give anything away, hoping he doesn't see....
Her partner sees my face and touches her on the elbow.
"You can look it up online. You should know this stuff. Don't get the H1N1 vaccine. They're trying to kill us. Part of the plan, kill all the people, then make a one world government."
Her companion has caught my eye, squeezes her elbow, she catches my eye, I'm limited in what I can do here, don't want to be too obvious, don't want him to see, so while he explains I stand to the side smiling and rolling my eyes like a madman. She thanks him for the information, he gives her his card with some websites listed on it. They leave their dog, perhaps a bit reluctantly, with us, then go inside for their coffee.
He explains to me when they've gone inside.
"Maybe they think I'm crazy....."
I understand.