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<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u201cTwo shotguns, a pistol, ammunition, flamethrowers containing thermite, and a cell phone,\u201d Miles announced to open the Saturday session.<\/p>\n
\u201cIs that what we\u2019re supposed to bring if we go to the VABC store before the next Bomb Cyclone?\u201d Rocket asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe ice mound in the left turn lane off Leesburg Pike from January is still there,\u201d he added. \u201cThat seems\u2026permanent.\u201d<\/p>\n
Splash stared at his orange juice and the platter of Dierdre\u2019s sausage rolls\u2014ground sausage, breadcrumbs, eggs and spices, wrapped in flat store-dough and baked to golden perfection.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat are the shotguns for?\u201d he asked, torn between pastry and peril.<\/p>\n
Miles stood and walked to the north end of the Conference Room.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome young man assembled the weapons near his New York home. Then he rented a silver Nissan and drove 2,600 miles\u2014through cities, mountains, deserts, parks. He rammed the car into a power substation outside Las Vegas and shot himself.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI won\u2019t ask why,\u201d Keith said. \u201cLet me guess. Terror incident. Manifesto. Headlines.\u201d<\/p>\n
Melissa reached for a knife. \u201cWe have a mental health crisis. Addiction in the open air. Encampments. Random violence.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd some of it appears to sit in elected office,\u201d Miles replied. \u201cOur new Governor inherited a $2 billion surplus and the first instinct is to raise taxes.\u201d<\/p>\n
That drew no laughter. Only arithmetic.<\/p>\n
Holly waved at the final half-roll. \u201cSome of this has drifted into the social sciences. We\u2019re at war with biology. Boys as girls. Motherhood suspect. Masculinity toxic. It feels\u2026malignant.\u201d<\/p>\n
She slid the platter away. \u201cI\u2019m glad you liked the rolls.\u201d<\/p>\n
Miles smiled and lifted his iPad. \u201cThat reminds me. In 2013 we worked with the late Jinny Martin collecting embassy recipes from fifty years of entertaining in Washington and abroad.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dierdre narrowed her eyes. \u201cI am not doing a cookbook. That\u2019s gender assignment.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe aren\u2019t at war with biology unless it\u2019s editorially inconvenient,\u201d Miles said. \u201cBut consider this: down by Kingstowne Center they\u2019re building Banner Heights. \u2018Affordable sophisticated brownstone-inspired exteriors.\u2019 From the low $800s.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Boomers laughed. The Zoomers did not.<\/p>\n
Melissa checked her phone. \u201cThat\u2019s the entry price.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe could pair recipes with real estate,\u201d Miles mused. \u201cSausage rolls and zoning law. How to live fifteen minutes apart without owning anything. Or tariffs. Or something we actually understand.\u201d<\/p>\n
Agreement all around. Coffee refills. Empty platter.<\/p>\n
Two memos remain:<\/p>\n
Snowstorm tomorrow afternoon.<\/p>\n
War with Iran\u2014possibly Monday.<\/p>\n
Saturday planning complete.<\/p>\n
This afternoon: U.S. vs. Canada in the men\u2019s hockey final in Milan. After the women\u2019s gold last week, the decibel level will rise accordingly.<\/p>\n
A few of us will visit the store. Miles insists the Sugarlands reserves are held in abeyance until Lent concludes.<\/p>\n
Planning continues at Socotra House.<\/p>\n
Copyright 2026 Vic Socotra
\nwww.vicsocotra.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cTwo shotguns, a pistol, ammunition, flamethrowers containing thermite, and a cell phone,\u201d Miles announced to open the Saturday session. \u201cIs that what we\u2019re supposed to bring if we go to the VABC store before the next Bomb Cyclone?\u201d Rocket asked. \u201cThe ice mound in the left turn lane off Leesburg Pike from January is still […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32524","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily-socotra"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32524","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32524"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32524\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32526,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32524\/revisions\/32526"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32524"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32524"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32524"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}