(Virginia morning, Dog Holler image courtesy Arrias).

The crowd was afire on a magnificent morning. One of the Interns had her phone and showed us the incoming from Tidewater down the road. None of the rest of us were smart enough to have our phones with us- a result of having to go through Security at the Courthouse yesterday. The event was uneventful and police were courteous since there was nothing happening in the courtroom on the first floor. The stark staid passageway is past the metal detector and with canes back in hand, we followed it to the elevator past the Doors of Justice before getting into the car to rise to the second deck. That is where Sylvia hands out the applications for state-sanctioned changes of circumstance. The phones had to stay in the car, to prevent public sharing of other information. So, this morning the dawn broke with us sort of lost about what was going to go in The Daily.

Not our fault. Splash had been cut off from his daily dose of conspiracy and was clearly discomfited. “So how are we going to do this? The Chairman sent that memo through Legal that said “Don’t get people riled up this week or next. Let ‘em enjoy the holidays. Where does that leave us?”

DeMille rose and gave a smoothing gesture with both hands. “Easy. There is plenty to discuss in a festive, upbeat and positive manner.”

Melissa nodded but stayed seated. “The new Covid panic isn’t working out to be that big a deal. There has been one death reported so far in the whole world, so let’s talk about the number one cause of death at the moment.”

Loma frowned. “Even a single death is sad. Plus, we are supposed to be in several emergencies. Which one are you talking about if it isn’t the plague? Is the Climate changing again?”

She smiled. “No, we are vulnerable to this one if we continue to take prescription medication for the arthritis, blood pressure and kidney stuff.”

Rocket leaned forward, his jacket sluffed off in the delightful mild breeze. “I am generally in favor of minimizing the arthritic woes, prefer the BP stays fairly low and that my kidneys continue to produce that stuff that has to filter past some enlarged gland that used to be useful but is now just a pain.”

Melissa doesn’t have one of those, but she was determined. “You aren’t going to believe it, but larger than heart disease, cancer and whatever variant of Covid they want us to freak out about. It is Fentanyl overdoses for folks between 18 and 45. Seriously.”

Splash’s ears perked up. “Not the stuff we get from Belmont Farms Field to Flask?”

She shook her head. “No, they count that as a co-morbidity. They are just noticing that a wide-open border, mass house arrest and all sorts of strange acting-out has contributed to some deadly drugs sweeping the country. And it is proving fatal to a lot of folks out there in Blue Towns and Red Country.”

“Isn’t everything actually the same color it has been all along?” We could tell Splash was getting on a roll, whether he had internet connectivity or not. “I can’t worry about Fentanyl right now, though that may be part of George Floyd’s problem that started all the chaos last year.”

Melissa shook her lovely long tresses across her Christmas sweater. “I heard on the radio that some former DEA guy claimed ‘we have a chemical weapon attack that nobody’s paying attention to.’”

“We can go back to that after next week. It would seem to be something we can keep track of. But we have had that trifecta of international stuff hanging out there, with China and Russia and Iran all poised to do something. But the word was it would not impact the holidays, and that is in accordance with the Chairman’s direction to lighten up for a minute. And Legal said it would be wise to keep a low profile on government-related commentary for Article 88 reasons.”

Loma applied his usual common sense. “Plus, we ought to avoid opioids on general principles. But I have a better one. Is there any chance Russia will move against the Ukraine and China against Taiwan simultaneously? Like Hitler and Stalin against Poland in 1939?”

“That would work. But next year. We would have until February to adequately discuss the implications of action during the Olympics, rather than planning around the games. We already announced none of the Diplomats will be there and be at risk.”

“For goodness sake. That is next year business. That is when Democracy ends in the United States, according to some leading figures.”

“We will have plenty of time to talk about that. It is actually a reflection of a changing language. If something is inconvenient, just change the name of it. Like what kind of government we have. We were founded as a Constitutional Republic. So, the words are changed around so they sound like something else. ‘Democracy’ sounds like one of the Parties, and a Republic sounds like the other. It is another of those exercises in mutating the language. It is like that word “equity” sounding like “equality” without specifying what either one means.”

“Yes,” said DeMille slowly. “In the old America, our democratically-elected representatives would take the issues, debate them over the course of regular order, vote on them to issue from Committee, and then debate and vote on each issue on the Floor of the two chambers. What we have now is legislation all balled up into vast agglomerations, none of which are debated, and then passed by a simple up and down vote. The isn’t a Democracy. It is about words and changing their meanings.”

“Yeah, yeah. Next year. Let’s get back to some holiday stuff for a while.”

“Well, after we got out of the courthouse yesterday, lunch at the Copper Fish was pretty interesting. Connie was in charge, and she had some interesting commentary on what it has been like to try to run a small business over the last two years.”

“Hah! We haven’t been out in a year. It was tough, but just when things seemed to be getting better, we are doing it again.”

“What exactly is that? Are we all going to be under house arrest again?”

“Not exactly, and not here. But in Europe, they are determined to derail holiday plans and upend Christmas traditions across Europe for a second straight year. They are claiming the surge in Covid cases this fall could overwhelm hospitals in Denmark and Norway. They are putting new curbs on clubs, and restricting tourists in France and Great Britain. In Germany the political class is debating whether to make vaccinations compulsory. Austria already did it, starting in February.”

“That makes it a next year issue. The Chairman should be OK with that.”

“Why don’t we do a story on what Connie thinks about running almost a whole block of a little downtown area in the country during a national emergency?”

“I could sum that up in just two words, which would get The Daily on the street before lunch. But they would have to delete the two words.”

“Any comment on why we were being wanded by the Sheriff’s people yesterday?”

“No. We want to hold that back in case nothing important is going on.” There was minimal grumbling on that, since the day looked like it was going to be magnificent. We decided to go to lunch, the only option that really made a lot of sense on a day as lovely as the one we are living right now.

Copyright 2021 Vic Socotra
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