Leon gave me a sideways glance, sizing up my 1999 LA outfit, running the tapes in his head about the old time, the hard times, the times come again no more.

"You goin' soft, Blake old boy. I bet you're up here for that Gaelic language immersion class Tom Sullivan's puttin' on. Shit, ever since the PBS station made a haul on runnin' Riverdance twice a month, everybody's gone crazy over Bo-Rans and bagpipes. We've got a real Montana-Ireland connection goin here." Leon was disgusted, the sarcasm drippin' from his voice like the oil from an old International. I could see the old days were gone, and he had regrets. As much as everyone in Missoula tried to live in the past, they just couldn't keep Y2K from knockin' on the door.