On the road…again!!!
Essays, Stories, Adventures, Dreams
Chronicles of a Footloose Forester
By Dick Pellek
At Least Copilot Has a Sense of Humor
In the continuing quest to ascertain the strengths and weaknesses of Artificial Intelligence systems, the Footloose Forester frequently asks the same question of Copilot, in both Quick Reply mode, and Think Deeper mode. Since Copilot is, so far, his favorite go-to source among AI sources, the answers he gets to the questions he asks may influence his future selections.
For the moment, however; the question today (in Quick Reply mode) got an answer that was funny but unfortunately totally out of bounds. On the other hand, the Copilot response is one that the Footloose Forester can enter into his humor category of chronicles. The post to Copilot was "how about a reprise of the time when footloose forester was at lunch with John F. Kennedy?”
The totally bogus but jocular Copilot reply was: (highlighted in bold italics font)
Ah, the mythical luncheon with JFK—now that’s a tale ripe for a Footloose Forester-style reprise. Let’s lean into the memoirist’s flair for blending reverence, wit, and a dash of speculative sparkle. Here's a playful reconstruction, part homage, part imagined encounter, all in the spirit of your literary persona:
? “Lunch with Jack”: A Footloose Forester Reprise
It was a Tuesday, or maybe a Thursday—the kind of day that history forgets but memoir remembers. The Footloose Forester, fresh from a forestry conference where Latin binomials were flung like frisbees, found himself seated across from John Fitzgerald Kennedy, 35th President of the United States, in a modest dining room that smelled faintly of clam chowder and Camel cigarettes.
“You know,” JFK said, stirring his iced tea with a silver spoon, “I’ve always admired trees. They don’t filibuster.”
The Forester, never one to miss a cue, replied, “They also don’t campaign, but they sure know how to stand tall.”
A pause. A grin. The kind of grin that launched a thousand Peace Corps applications.
Topics ranged wildly:
• The role of mangroves in coastal resilience (“Sounds like they’d make fine Democrats,” JFK mused).
• The ethics of clear-cutting (“Only if you’re clearing the way for civil rights,” the Forester quipped).
• And the curious mating habits of the dik-dik, which JFK insisted sounded like a Harvard prank.
Dessert was lemon pie. The President declined a second slice. The Forester didn’t.
As the luncheon wound down, JFK leaned in and said, “You’ve got a way with words, Forester. Ever thought of writing memoirs?”
The Forester smiled, already drafting the title in his mind: Lunch with Jack: A Silvicultural Satire in Three Courses.
Would you like to riff on this further—maybe add a satirical footnote, a mock press release, or a declassified napkin sketch from the encounter?
Not bad for a quick AI reply, but it may be hard to explain to those who believe everything they read. Footloose Forester was trying to find out whether Dick Pellek really had lunch with JFK in 1963. After all, Copilot acknowledges the pen name of the author and authenticity is an asset among authors. Moving on, Footloose Forester then proceeded to ask Copilot (in Think Deeper mode) the same question. And the Think Deeper mode answer was: (in bold italics font)
Lunch with John F Kennedy
It began like a weather report: sunny with a chance of consequence. The Footloose Forester—mud on his boots, a notebook folded like a map of small rebellions—was led into a small dining room where sunlight tracked across a white tablecloth and the President waited with his elbows polite on the linen.
Setting
• Place: A quiet room off the West Wing, plants in terracotta pots pretending to be casual.
• Time: Noon, the kind of noonday that asks for decisions.
• Mood: Slightly conspiratorial, warm enough for stories to take root.
The First Course: Small Talk, Large Stakes
JFK lifted a fork, as if testing gravity. “You work with trees,” he said. “That must teach patience.”
The Forester answered, “Trees teach me how to listen. People teach me how to argue.”
JFK laughed a quick, roguish laugh that made the Forester want to confess secrets he didn’t know he had.
The Main Course: On Policy and Bark
Conversation braided between policy and woodlot lore.
• JFK asked about erosion and coastlines; the Forester spoke of root systems like quiet civic infrastructure.
• The President compared the march for change to a slow forest succession; the Forester agreed and added a bitter joke about brush fires that accelerate everything nobody planned for.
At one point, JFK tapped the table and said, “We need to plant things we won’t live to see finish.”
The Forester, thinking of seedlings and futures, said, “Then we should be ashamed if we only plant what looks good on our résumé.”
The Sidebar: A Dik-dik Story
Somewhere between entrée and coffee, the Forester told a story about a small antelope in Uganda—the dik-dik—whose nervous elegance made the President lean forward.
JFK murmured, “There’s bravery in small things.” The Forester made a note: bravery arrives in sizes that surprise you.
Dessert: A Quiet Pact
They didn’t sign treaties or make speeches. Instead, they agreed on a kindness: that memory would be kinder to small acts. JFK pushed back his chair, standing taller even in repose, and said, “Keep writing. Keep planting.”
The Forester folded that into his coat like a map.
Aftermath: The Memoir Seed
Back on the path, the Forester found he had a title ready before his coat was fully closed: Noonday Roots: Conversations at a White Table. He never knew which of them remembered the other better—history or habit—but the lemon peel on the plate smelled like possibility.
Would you like a version skewed more satirical, more elegiac, or turned into a short mock press release from the Forester’s perspective?
Buyer Beware! The game is just starting. We as individuals still have to use common sense when considering using AI sources.