![\"brackets\"](\"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/brackets.png\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
By the time I finally got there, the gang at the Amen corner had already built up a pretty good head of steam.<\/p>\n
Sabrina got a new haircut and highlights and looked sharp. Old Jim was in his usual seat. Satchel was attempting- apparently successfully- to envelope one of the enormous corned beef sandwiches the kitchen will dispense from the left-overs of the big Irish feast last weekend.<\/p>\n
John-with-an-H asked me if I had done my brackets yet. \u201cI sent them to your Socotra account,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t check that very often,\u201d I said. \u201cThings have been too hysterical to worry about round ball yet. I only woke up to the tournament after they got rid of the one-and-done round last year. I have not thought about it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, you snooze you lose,\u201d he said primly and took a swallow of the Willow Happy Hour red. Old Jim was working up to his first beer of the day, pacing himself with a neutral Diet Coke until the time was right. I like his new approach. It is measured and reasonable. But he was more irascible than usual.<\/p>\n
Me? I was a little pre-occupied. It had been a long and inconclusive day. There is nothing going on with my Government customer, and that is driving the town a little batty. We are having more meetings about less and less at the moment. You can feel the anxiety rising among those who feed at the government trough.<\/p>\n
I went to the Commissary at lunch to stock up on vegetables, furniture polish and light bulbs at lunchtime and ran into Mr. Sluggo\u2019s wife Lil\u2019 Debbie. I had not seen her in years, and we exchanged pleasantries with genuine pleasure. Then the Sequestration issue intruded, as it does with everything here.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know they are going to close the Commissary,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
I nodded solemnly, not surprised. \u201cI wondered when that was gong to happen,\u2019 I said. \u201cEvery time there is a budget crisis, the Department of Defense decides they are going to get out of the grocery business. Bummer.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThey are going to cut two days out of the schedule,\u201d said Lil\u2019 Debbie. \u201cI\u2019m sure they will do it on the weekends, the only time people have to do errands.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBastards,\u201d I said. \u201cThey have us bracketed. They had better not cut the hours on the Class Six Store. Losing the liquor outlet at the Navy Annex was bad enough. Imagine if we had to shop at an actual Virginia ABC store.\u201d We both shuddered.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow is Mr. Sluggo doing? Is his job OK?\u201d<\/p>\n
Lil\u2019 Debbie shrugged. \u201cHe turns seventy this year. Can you believe it? Everyone is worried about their jobs. No one knows what is going to happen if the music stops and there is no chair to sit on.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is not \u201cif,\u201d\u201d I said. \u201cBut I suppose it is about time the Beltway got a taste of what has been happening everywhere else since 2008. But it still sucks.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes it does. Don\u2019t be a stranger, Vic. It has been too long.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cRoger that. Let\u2019s catch up soon.\u201d She strode off toward her car in the lot and I grabbed a cart to stock up on things that have a long shelf-life.<\/p>\n
I found the jar of Vitamin E that I needed and scooped up some shredded broccoli to make a slaw recipe I found vaguely attractive. I was eyeing some Vidalia onions when the cell phone went off in my sport jacket pocket. I pulled it out and did not recognize the number. I punched it and held the phone up to my ear.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is OK,\u201d said a voice I knew.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat is?\u201d I asked, suspiciously.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am in a Cabella\u2019s in Kansas City.\u201d I thought about the mega sporting goods store, imaging wandering around in a wilderness of camouflage and high explosive.<\/p>\n
\u201cKansas, or the other one?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe real one. There is plenty of ammunition and lots of guns. The run on gun shops isn\u2019t happening here.\u201d Then he described what was on the shelves as he walked around, rattling off a litany of calibers and types. \u201cPlenty of big magazines, too.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMaybe the panic is only happening in states where people are worried about the loonies in the legislature.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, apparently they aren\u2019t loony here.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI gotta go,\u201d I said. \u201cI have to talk to a man about an onion.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo accounting for taste,\u201d said my pal, and he broke the connection and vanished into Kansas. Increasingly, I find myself quoting Dorothy about that. I don\u2019t think we are home anymore.<\/p>\n
They seem to have everything pretty well bracketed.<\/p>\n
By the time I finally got there, the gang at the Amen corner had already built up a pretty good head of steam. Sabrina got a new haircut and highlights and looked sharp. Old Jim was in his usual seat. Satchel was attempting- apparently successfully- to envelope one of the enormous corned beef sandwiches the […]<\/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-4985","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily-socotra"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4985","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=4985"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4985\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4989,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4985\/revisions\/4989"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4985"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4985"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4985"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"VidaliaOnions\"](\"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/VidaliaOnions.jpg\")
\nCopyright 2013 Vic Socotra
\nwww.vicsocotra.comRenee Lasche Colorado springs<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"