This could make you give up drinking vodka forever. Strange isn’t the word I would use to describe this story. It reminds me of the old W.C. Fields routine:
“In this pocket I have a bottle of snakebite medicine,” he says, pulling out some liquor. “In the other pocket I have a small snake.”
Hillary Clinton said she misspoke about coming under sniper fire in Bosnia. What she meant to say was that she drove through an artillery barrage and a hail of small arms fire from local tribesemen in Somalia while attempting to rescue downed Army Rangers who were depicted in “Black Hawk Down.”
“Oh, and I almost forgot about my discovery of the integrated circuit,” Clinton added.
| Many questions fill heads of wiser men than me, myself and/or I. But alas, I seek an answer to only one question albeit such an interrogatory which puzzles those with or without wisdom, men and women, rich and poor. That question is: What’s for dinner?
Yes, our society stands at a great crossroads and the fate of the world as we know it may ultimately hang upon our thoughts and actions. But we still have to eat. Eat what? That is the question. |
On the way to work this morning I toyed with the idea of calling the city and telling them the traffic light was out at North 11th Street and Interstate 10. My reluctance to do so is sort of like when the lights go out. You think about calling the power company but you figure someone else did so why waste your valuable time on the telephone?
Speaking of the lights going out, the reason was zapped bird, according to our local daily the Beaumont Enterprise.
And a great line appears in the end of that story, written by the Enterprise’s Dan Wallach:
“The bird was burned beyond recognition, (Entergy Texas spokeswoman Debi)Derrick said.”
Of course, unless the bird belonged to someone or a birder was inquiring, I don’t really know why the bird’s recognition would be all that pertinent. Nonetheless, it’s a wonderful line and the kind I would use in a news story if I could get away with it.
My long-time friend Betti called me this morning as I was taking a walk on a beautiful Southeast Texas spring day. Betti called to say she was dying.
So flabbergasted I became upon hearing such news that she told me to take 10 minutes to get things together and then call her back. It was actually a little longer than that because of some other matters which got in the way.
Between what was the effects of medication and her illness, Betti told me that she has malignancies all over and that she would likely soon be going to a hospice. My friend sounded a whole lot braver than I did on the phone as I told her I didn’t know what to say. She said that all I needed to say was “I love you,” which, despite should left being unsaid needed to be said and thus did I say so.
I have already been during the last 24 hours in the midst of a tumultuous relationship situation and now I am slapped silly by the news that my friend of some 33 years is apparently not long for this world. Perhaps it is needless to say, a lot of thoughts are coursing through my head.
I think of those seemingly endless summer days while serving in the Navy down in Gulfport. I would stop by Jim’s for a few cold beers and to see that warm and funny barmaid with the red hair named Betti tell the latest joke or to plan for some adventure or a get-together where she would make her scrumptious red beans and rice. I also think of my friends Buffalo Bob and Buddy, who would be with me for those adventures if not deployed somewhere with the Seabees such as on Okinawa or Diego Garcia. Both of those guys are now gone.
It is difficult watching your world die in front of you. Nothing can stop it and not a whole lot can help to ease your troubled mind. Such is life, as it is. Sometimes it all seems like a cruel joke.
