Not a bad morning. Some puffy clouds but no rain or military action overnight. Or, better said, there was some military action in places southwest of Kursk, but no major military action where we have been expecting it for days. That remark at the Monday Production Meeting led immediately into whether something had changed in the hours of darkness. Or if it was just a sort of lurching steady-state that we all just need to get better at accepting.

Which is what Legal said when the Intern had her turn to remind us about the new disclaimer we are supposed to get posted and then mention once before letting it go in the swirl of required distancing from the other required messaging. It is a challenge to stay organized.

We have abandoned the attempt at making sense of things in the ongoing eternal campaign, and realize that the process is both completely normal yet utterly unlike any we have seen before in scope and volume.

It is, of course, just a struggle about power. A lot of power. But it is being done in a more refined and focused manner than newspapers or the three networks could manage. It is all encompassing. Like the international stuff cascading down to local events right here.

The Intern closed the lid on her tablet. “There are three linked local stories that might be of interest this morning. They involve no strategic conflict of large and determined socio-religious groups. Well, they do sort of. But they may provide some mild ironic context and amusement. Good luck.” She left the picnic table, looking for a cup of coffee that was still warm.

DeMille was chairing the meeting and he didn’t want to let Meat, our marketing rep, launch off on the two book projects. That could wait to the dance off, and the substance of the morning production needed some attention, though we had marveled at them in passing yesterday.

Rocket had the disclaimer highlighted in “yellow” on his phone. “OK,” he grunted. “Crime is nothing new, and is sort of traditional now. But the three stories reflect something new because they happened here.”

He put his glowing phone down with a thump. “There always has been a certain amount of trouble here. I remember ten years ago when I saw a group of a dozen young men rush one of the units on the first floor while having a smoke on that unit on the 5th floor. It was like a mini-mob action. It was real but not typical. So, NBD. The stuff yesterday was different.”

Vic snorted. “It also involved a gunshot, which is an attention-getter.”

“Thankfully, no one was hurt. It was interesting in the way the three stories were linked, though. The DC Metro system has the Orange Line that runs under the River northwest across Arlington. You expect a certain amount of activity where there are moving crowds at the stops in Rosslyn and Ballston where the Chairman used to have his office. Between living here at Big Pink and the five or six blocks to the built-up corridors, it was a nice compact place with that cool bar sort of in between.”

“Yeah, they had a little Target store in there- not one of the big-box versions, just a little brick building with a sidewalk in front.”

“Yeah. A place you could duck over and pick something up if you needed it instead of hitting Amazon and having it delivered almost before you ordered it.”

“Which is part of the thing. A young man was in the store, just filling up a backpack with merchandise and then walking past the register to exit the store. Without paying.”

“That is why a lot of places have all the merchandise locked up now. The store employees are not supposed to intervein for reasons of liability or something…”

“Yeah, but there was a cop on the street outside. There is still an effort to keep things normal by the County. He tried to stop the young man and there was a tussle. It got a little out of hand, and the officer’s sidearm got into the mix. It went off, unclear how. But a gunshot next to where we used to get coffee got our attention.”

“No one was hurt, so it was just a local story. But it was jammed into another string of commentary from a dog owner. It was over on the neighborhood watch thing Splash is assigned to monitor. “It was a note from one of the Dog people. Remember when the County had that innovation about public parks with areas for dogs to run? Nice central waste locations so people could pick up after their animals did their business?”

“Yeah, there was commentary about some folks doing the same thing with their lawns because the parks turned into campsites to accommodate indigent rights or something.”

“Yeah, well this Dog person wrote to say he witnessed the copy and the kid struggling while he was walking a couple Rottweillers. Don’t know if it was personal or professional. But you can imagine the human interaction and the noise of the shot got the dogs in an uproar, and the Dog-guy said he was waving a trash receptacle in an attempt to defuse the situation, dogs leaping, loud bang.”

So, just a moment on the block, right?”

“Except the blocks are all connected. The next stop east Is Rosslyn where that cool Viet soup place is. Someone was doing the same thing to the CVS next door to Pho Viet 75 on Pierce Street. Not a big deal, just theft, but this guy was spotted fleeing with merchandise in the Metro station. After a foot chase through waiting passengers, the suspect fled into a tunnel in the direction of Foggy Bottom across the Potomac.”

“The Metro announcement was that transit was disrupted not only on the Orange Line, but the Blue and Silver ones, too.”

As a group that in our working days used to bounce around the Swamp on the Metro after the haul in from Fairfax by motor vehicle. This was at 10:30 Friday morning, so between the commute and lunch traffic. We marveled at what a tangle would result if it happened when the US Government attempting to get coffee (AM) or a drink after work.

With dogs straining on leashes.

So, no big deal, just something we want to be a little alert for. We need to stop by the credit union at some point, and it hadn’t occurred to us that might be an errand better done as a team, you know?

Not a big deal. Just a little different these days. Like Metro said on the announcement after the CVS thing, there could be delays both ways, you know?

Copyright 2024 Vic Socotra
www.vicsocotra.com