Second Day

On the second day of Christmas: 

two turtle doves, 

and a partridge in a pear tree.

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Holed up in my Bay side window seat hiding place where no one can see me unless I want them to, 

surrounded by what? my loot.

Treats: good things to eat, and a book to read, "James" by P Everett, a novel developing the life of N - - Jim from Mark Twain's "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" if you know the story. In my day and Time it was a charming, enchanting, amusing classic universally read by every student about - - maybe sixth or seventh or eighth grade in an age when we didn't know any better, God help us. But you only know what you know, nomesane? Here in the South we still heard about The Cause and everything was the way it was supposed to be, and it never occurred to us that everything we knew was injustice and a lie, Godless cruelty to other human beings.

I'm expecting "James" to take me back to my Time of realization - - which basically dawned on me my freshman year at university. I was eighteen, living behind a Confederate battle flag and looking up to a portrait of General Lee. 

After my sophomore year, I never went back.

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Boxing Day breakfast, two thick slices of red rare beef tenderloin, cut to bite size and ready to eat, brown gravy spooned over, and seasoned with a shake of NoSalt. Earlier, mug of hot & black with a honey-spoon that completely dissolved for a touch of sweetness.

SomeTime soon: a sandwich of Pepperidge Farm's very thin whole wheat bread, smear of mayonnaise, and flat anchovies laid on thick. If you've not tried it, don't knock it, Sam I Am. Try it, you may like it.

There'll be a mug of hot & black to sip with each bite.

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In the news: videos of Christmas Mass being celebrated in Gaza by Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Archbishop and Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, while acolytes, in the same red surplices that we used to wear here when I was growing up a young acolyte, hear IDF warplanes flying overhead. 

May it enlighten our naïveté to the realization that Israel is waging unbridled war against young Christian innocents as well as against Hamas. 

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Faith, hope, and love. My hope for the New Year is that there we will see settled Peace in Europe and the MiddleEast. 

On this second day of Christmas,

RSF&PTL

T89&c