Dear Diary,

I thought I knew Rip so well. I was sure that he would not have been able to cope with this new town and this new way of doing things. He certainly surprised me, I thought maybe he would be remorsely or shed tears once he had heard about the passing of his wife years ago while he was asleep in the woods. Rip seemed to be at peace with the fact that his nagging wife would no longer cause him headaches or question him about the small work he did around the town they once knew. Watching Rip get use to this new town that now included federals and democrats, without him having knowledge of what those might even be, he still seemed as if he could get use to everything. He was free to be amongst his now adult children in a comfortable home that he did not have to do any maintenance too. Rip telling his stories to the strangers in the Dr. Doolittle hotel seems to be keeping him alive and happy. The kids flock to him and listen carefully, and some of the elders still think he’s crazy and doubt his stories. Rip has always been just him, that small town guy with a mind of his own.