June 2008, somewhere in central Vermont

Bob answers his cellphone in the backseat. My wife, he mouths. “Yep, we’re going to jail,” he tells her, then snickers.

I run a furtive sign of the cross over my face and chest.... Read more

As I cruised the grounds of the State of Vermont Surplus Equipment and Vehicle Auction in Berlin on Saturday morning, an impish thought occurred to me: If I was a single lady — or a gay man, for that matter — this place would be pay dirt. Amid the expected vehicle auction scenery of stripped state police cruisers, backhoes, dump trucks, Ski-Dos and flannel-clad duffers sipping from polystyrene were swarms of seemingly eligible men. They were everywhere — all ages, all types — munching hot dogs, inspecting boat motors, pretending to tinker.... Read more