This is a heck of a week. The number one issue was local, which is a little surprising, since one of the issues on the screen DeMille left on the tablet at his seat by the fire read “War in Europe?” He had departed the cozy space by the nice fire Melissa had started. He said he felt like he had some sniffles, and needed to find a test before he felt comfortable in breathing around the rest of the Writer’s Circle. We had advised him to just hold his breath, which is apparently an effective preventative measure on the West Coast, but only got a dismissive smile as he rose and swing the door to the loading dock open and prepared to stalk upright into a morning bold in brightness.

Seeing the possibility of action, the young Attorney got up to follow in case of inadvertent press conference breaking out between the Bunk Room and the Farm’s Dispensary.

Splash smiled. “So, I can say anything I want this morning.” He did not phrase it as a question, but rather as a declaration of something the Attorney has described as “intent.” Instead, he held up his right hand in the traditional manner of Michigan folks when describing places on their paw-shaped state. “There is talk of truckers backing up on the Ambassador Bridge to Canada in Detroit and the Bluewater Bridge up by Sarnia. that truck thing there could be starting down here, too.”

Loma looked a little perplexed. “We obviously can’t mention the intention of the President to travel to the Congressional 7th District tomorrow. The last time we warned against participating in public gatherings, large or small, the algorithm people at Google censored our outgoing story on caution.”

“It is funny, isn’t it?” said Rocket between gulps of steaming hot coffee with that provocative Brand Name we are supposed to suppress. “In order to support our government we are supposed to shut up about it.”

Buck smiled. “It is a curious sort of thing here, isn’t it? One moment we are talking about the possibility of conflict in Europe, then the joint statement of two former Communist powers that there is going to be a new world order, and we are worried about talking about re-districting issues in one congressional district in the House of Representatives.”

“Well, Redistricting is a big deal if you actually live in one of the Districts being redrawn.”

“Yeah. This one is interesting. We all like our Representative Spanberger, or at least don’t dislike her. She was the one who told the other members of her Caucus to knock off some of the crazy talk last year. Then her home in Henrico County down by Richmond got put into another district. They say we are now a “swing district,” and she is going to run to retain her seat anyway, even if she doesn’t live in it. The President is coming to support her as part of that outreach thing he told us about a few days ago.”

“For an outreach, it is interesting they haven’t even said where or when the visit is going to be. Tomorrow.”

Splash looked around the circle. Melissa looked reserved. Buck had a furrowed brown. Rocket looked like he wanted to zoom off somewhere else. “I have to say that the Lady in Red on the television says we are going to have another nice couple days, temperatures up in the 50s (F) and plenty of sun,” Melissa said briskly. “That is what I consider a decent weather forecast. That is something good despite the rest of the stuff.”

“Clear skies, bright sun, possible armor offensive in Eastern Europe. Sounds like a reasonable forecast.”

“Don’t forget the deployment of two big Russian cruisers to the Med. There hasn’t been a deployment of those Slava-Class beasts since we were in uniform. They were formidable platforms. Can you even imagine we are putting together sentences like that, and wondering if we can continue talking before the legal advisor comes back to tell us to discuss something else?”

“New sort of world. Look at some of the bullets on the graphic DeMille has on his screen. This seems like the thriller movies we used to go see.”

“Yeah,” said Loma. “But we used to go see them at the drive-in.”

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