Popular Pariah

For a pariah a lot of people have been stopping to thank me. And this is after Ralph Doty’s column and losing the taxpayer’s attorney.

My poor little Tan Man is under the weather today. He hadn’t eaten in 24 hours when his Mother called to ask if I could look after him. He’s had a fever and he has a terrible rash you know where from you know what. I had to change his didies 5 times while we watched Thomas the Tank Engine and the Teletubbies together. Every time, no matter how gentle I’d try to be, he cried for “Mamma.” No matter gentle we Papaw’s are we just aren’t Mommys.

Fortunately, I’d gotten my reply to the Budgeteer finished up before he arrived but I don’t mind any interruption if it involves my Grandson.

I sneaked in that last post after my daughter returned and then I was called upon to help break the 24 hour fast. The boy wanted macaroni and cheese and we didn’t have a box of it or noodles or cheese. I zipped up to Mount Royal for some food right off the stove. As I headed in humming the song about the steam ship Robert E Lee I was stopped by three women who got a kick out of my good mood. One of the three wanted me to know that her daughter loved my visits to Lincoln School. Her daughter is 20 years old now so that was a few years ago. I used to visit all the grade schools to read. (If I showed up at a school today the Principal would be handed a scoop and scrub brush and told to clean the latrines.) She wished me well in my current fight. A few steps later in front of the Deli a fellow stopped to tell me that his wife sang with me in the Symphony Chorus. He too wished me well. More folks I knew acknowledged me as the Deli filled my lunch order and I hightailed it out before I held the Tan Man up any further.

He was already in his highchair nibbling on an apple when I returned. We served him up and he played hide and seek with Thomas the tank engine which was hiding under his lunch on his special plastic tank engine plate.

Two months shy of Two years he is a most remarkable little talker. Three and four word sentences regularly escape and make us smile. He looked down at Moloch, our bull in a china shop cat with a short helicopter tale and said “Hi Moley Poley” over and over. If I hadn’t already been in a good mood that would have put me there.

At my high school reunion we were asked a trivia question about the good old days. What was the song the whole class, not just the choir, sang at our graduation someone asked. I remembered immediately.

When you walk through a storm
Keep your chin up high
And don’t be afraid of the dark.
At he end of the storm
Is a golden sky
And the sweet silver song of a lark.

We’ve just lost our lawyer but there are other’s waiting in the wings. I’ve discovered who JCI’s dirty tricks meister is. We’re going to win an election. the attempt to destroy my reputation that may have been necessitated by that secret survey we’ve heard about is foundering. That’s just for starters.

Ralph, I can’t wait till you write your next column. Every time you write one its a little like Fox News Pundits getting You Tubed telling their viewers that the new President is a Commie.

By the way, I hope you enjoy your Central Class reunion. I’m sure your classmates will have many fond memories to share with you.

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