In 1965, a board game called Mystery Date was released. The television commercial jingle asked, ‘Are you waiting for your Mystery Date?’ Being eight years old in much of 1965, I was not yet ready for my Mystery Date. However, I recall that the girls in my class were eagerly anticipating the mystery. Girls advance faster than boys. After all, all we have to work with are snails and puppy dog tails. One of my female classmates wanted to discuss biology in the bushes on the way home from school. I was frightened and ran home.

The June Bugs are out in November. They are plentiful and proficient. The children played and hooped, hollered, and basically relished the fall afternoon at the Woods. They thought little of the Mystery Date. We prepare for Thanksgiving. In pursuit of turkey breasts. A time to relax and refresh. A look forward and a look back. I checked out the blo-molds of Mickey and Minnie Mouse Christmas figures. Close to $100 with tax. Santa will be fine alone again this year. The Holidays are on the Christmas Locomotive. They are chugging along with the coal furnace burning bright. Turn around once, and it will be over for 2025.

I laugh to myself when one political party succeeds over the other, and suddenly, they are geniuses and have the secret to success. The secret is we want to be seen and heard, cared about. We want our lives to have some of the burden lifted of arbitrary rhetoric. When we lose our livelihoods, we are desperate. Most of us live from paycheck to paycheck. Personalities matter little; results matter a lot.

‘I think you gentlemen will enjoy the journey we are about to embark on,’ Mr. Badger said. ‘We seek the Mystery Date where we shall discover the answer to life’s persistent questions, Mr. Badger proclaimed. ‘We have been recruited to perform in the Grand Play,’ Mr. Badger noted. ‘No one asked our agent if we were interested nor if we were available,’ Badger said with a sly grin. ‘We earned our place on stage by birth,’ Badger proclaimed. ‘We seek preparation for the Mystery Date,’ Mr. Badger smiled benevolently..

‘Shall I bring my spare spectacles to see the answer to the Secret that I have longed to understand my entire life?’ Mr. Mole asked. ‘I have read book after book and dusty volume after dusty volume not to find the answer to the Mystery Date,’ Moley said with a wry smile. ‘Mr. Toad is docking his boat on the riverbank and I am certain he would want to accompany us to the Mystery Date,’ Moley laughed.

‘Ahoy, mates,’ Toady called out. ‘A little bird told me that we are on a trek to find out the Mystery Date,’ Mr. Toad continued. ‘When will we know the Secret?’ Toady, dressed in a blue jacket and an ascot with a navy cap on his head, asked. ‘I have been a slave to the Mystery Date; it has ruled my going in and my coming out,’ Toady proclaimed. ‘I have advanced degrees from Oxford and have read history and English philosophy and religion there, yet I do not know the Secret,’ Today cried out. ‘I am a seeker and a watcher. I have spent my life in pursuit of the Myesery Date,’ Mr. Toad said with solemnity. ‘Ratty told me not to come, that I would be disappointed once again, but I said no, I must seek the Mystery Date and the answer to the Secret.’ Toady danced on one foot and then the other.

The Old Man walked in the autumn woods with determination. The players were there. Badger and Toad, Mole and even Ratty. The Sun shone in the sky. The leaves were yellow, green, and red. There was a golden hue. Life was golden. The promise was golden. The Mystery Date was golden.