May 23 2024
Here he came,
Windy Wilson himself. Marched right up to the official
round table of the World
Dilemma Think Tank at the Mule Barn coffee shop. Windy
whipped off his beat-up
old Stetson, grinned and bowed to us there as is fitting
to the membership of
the Supreme Court of Dang Near Everything.
“May I kindly
join you, compadres?” Windy said.
Steve pointed to
several empty chairs and Windy homesteaded on one in
particular. He seated
himself as though he were surrounded by servants and
looked … regal. That
ain’t easy for an over-the-hill cowboy camp cook, either.
We looked at
each other and grinned. We’re in for it this morning. But
ol’ Windy wasn’t
ready to spill the beans. He was waiting for one of us. To
do what?
Loretta came by
with more coffee and topped off our tanks. “Hey Windy,”
she said, “Haven’t seen
you in a while. Hear you’ve got a new hobby.”
She smiled and
left.
“New hobby?” said
Dud. “Okay, spill it old timer.”
“Aw, jest got
tired of my own cookin’ and thought I’d get better
acquainted with Mame the
Dame Dilworth. So I’m practicin’. Thass all.”
“Practicing?”
“Sure, Doc. I’m
sure you know how it is with single women, they want a guy
who’s
suffistimacated and knows lotsa stuff. So I been
practicin.’ You know, borryin’
from dead smart guys who wrote stuff a long time ago and
they don’t mind if I
use it, cuz they’re dead. I did mention on that, right?”
“Yes you did,”
said Doc. “So give us some of that. Let ‘s see how you’re
doing.”
Windy stood,
grinned, and waved to the half-vast coffee-swilling
audience in the room.
“Friends,
roommates, countrymen … lend me your ears! Never in the
course of human events
has so many owed so much to so few.
“I’ve come to
bury Caesar, not to raise him. The good a man does lives
on, while the bad is
oft interrupted by the bones.”
We were stunned. Finally, Doc broke
the silence. “Windy,
the only thing you need to improve that is a new hat.”
“What if I jest brushed
out this ‘un?”
“Good start,
Windy. Good start.”
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