Dear Simon,

Where are you? I'm the substitute who's covering your Seven Days delivery route around Barre and White RIver Junction. While I enjoyed carrying the banner yesterday, delivering the news to Co-ops, coffee shops and general stores, I was bereft of one important piece of information: your whereabouts.

Believe it or not Simon, but your delivery, personality and taste in music are missed in the Upper Valley. Rick, at the South Royalton Market, is apparently waiting for a mix CD you promised him, and the clerk at Exile on Main Street in Barre is starting to get confused with all the new faces delivering her papers.

I'm covering your route for the next two weeks, so if I could have something, anything, to tell your following about the nature of your absence, I'd be happy to pass along what Simon says.

Your Temp,

Mike DiBiasio