Mid-September in Phoenix is similar to May in cities with hard winters; the citizens come out from the air-conditioning and begin to do outdoor things again. Unfortunately this year we have been setting record temperatures for the last three days - 111, 110 and maybe 110 again today! Nonetheless, Kathy and I picketed from 9:15 to 10:30 this morning, with the temperature over 100 when we finished. There were only four cars in the mi$$ion parking lot when we started, and no change by the time we left. One of them had rain spots on the windshield that indicated that it had probably been parked there for at least t week; SCIENTOLOGY IS DYING IN ARIZONA. Traffic was fairly light, but we still got a good number of honks and thumbs-up signs. Two people stopped to talk about the picket: One middle-aged man walked with me for over 20 minutes and asked questions about the cult and why we were putting in the time in the heat. He seemed to be very surprised that the local members had tried to stop our pickets with legal injunctions, neighborhood leaflets and letters to employers. I gave him a Xenu pamphlet. Towards the end of the picket a car pulled into the parking lot and a young man with close-shaven hair got out. He was carrying a paper bag from the bottom with the open end pointing away from him. As he walked toward Kathy, I ran over, afraid that he was a Scientologist with something nasty in the bag to throw on us. When I got there I asked him what he had in the bag- he answered "a rat". I prepared to call the police with my cell phone when Kathy told me that the rat was food for his pet ball python! It turned out the young man had gone into the org some time previously because of the sign "Think for yourself", but had been completely turned off by the sales pitch. We discussed why we were picketing... I expected that someone from inside the building would come out and demand that he move his car, and that we keep walking, but it seems that we wogs are now completely at cause over the local $cienos.

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