(Cast of the popular television show “The View.” one of them, renowned actress and active social commentator Whoopi Goldberg, made perceptive comments on legal affairs. Low-resolution screen-capture image from ABC used only for non-commercial identification purposes).

DeMille wasn’t directly appointed to be our Writers Section leader, but he has become our de facto Chief because he is a pretty organized guy. His drinking problem is less severe than others in the group and his work effort still strong. He has a high-standard of personal hygiene and clothing makes him a personable front for the rest of the crew of Salts, who have varying standards on the portfolio of personal appearance issues.

They are particularly evident on a partly cloudy Sunday morning in early June. Holy service were available for those who do not observe them on other days, and the Production Meeting is normally a brief affair on these weekend mornings to jumble together a column that is composed of fragments thrown together in the cascade of current follies.

There were three tablet-format computers and several allegedly “smart phone” on the table in front of him. Each had a glowing screen that flashed from “bright display” to blank “sleep mode.” DeMille brushed them aside to put his steaming mug of coffee in the middle. He rose and sought to both raise impose order on the blinking crew around the table.

Splash had been mumbling about his top story, which was Whoopi Goldberg’s 34 second clip from “The View” in which she pronounced her opinion on some of the legal events that had produced what she described, on first try, “A confected felon.”

We knew what she meant, but decided to just accept it as a demonstration of a sort of courtroom sweetness.

DeMIlle frowned, “OK, thanks for the input, Splash. I have reviewed the proposed vignettes you all submitted before the wildlife issue came up.” He gestured at the amalgamation of electronic devices festooned with yellow sticky notes.“ “We have to sensitive not to offend anyone who is already lawyered up for something else and bored. Jasper from Legal sent his Intern to tell us to go easy on the strange legal things in progress so we can avoid getting into one ourselves.”

He looked over at Rocket and Splash. “Some alarmists have described the impact of the unopposed illegal arrival in our nation by tens of thousands of young military-aged men as part of a Red Dawn sort of hallucination about an invasion that already happened. I saw one that described a terror operation in which 29,000 7-11 stores were simultaneously held up across the county. That would be 600 stores in each of the states, and there is a larger population of ten million people who hve arrived without asking permission or showing ID.”

Splash was clearly not ready to engage on topics that required full wakefulness. “Why don’t we do a wildlife story? That would engage speculation about something that couldn’t be construed as disbelief in the fact that the rights of criminals seem to be more important than those of the taxpaying citizens who are paying for it all?”

DeMille smiled and reached for the phone that was blinking with an image of a black bear, juvenile in size, that had been sighted rambling here in Arlington a couple weeks ago. ‘You recall when cell phone imagery captured this young ber wandering out of the underbrush from the streams that bisect the neighborhood. They get active after hibernating all winter and are up looking for breakfast.”

(13 May image of a wandering bear, courtesy of Arlington Now, a community service group).

There were nods around the circle. It had been mildly alarming to note that large animals classified as caniforms, or more simply, ‘doglike carnivorans” were cruising around the same neighborhood we were. DeMIlle picked up another phone and waved it for emphasis. “This report was from Neighborhood Watch yesterday. “It was illustrated with a picture of a large black trash bag found by the walking trail that runs through Dominion Park. It apparently contained an adult bear.”

That was enough to provoke animated discussion about a topic not restricted by our Legal folks or subject to potential prosecution that could result in house arrest, restriction of voting rights or travel, all in the middle of a nation involved in a major election campaign that will determine some measure of control over what had, momentarily, been the most powerful on the globe..

We are a group of people who were brought up to be alert and try to do the right thing when necessary. The bear-in-the-bag story was useful in that regard, since it contained the surreal meme that someone right here in the neighborhood, not in a far-away world, had confronted a wild beast, dispatched it somehow, then tugged it in plastic toward the woods for casual disposal, pretty much summed things up. We are going to take the rest of the day off.

Copyright 2024 Vic Socotra
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