With embarassing regret

With embarrassing regret

fiction
edward w pritchard

Using the blitzkrieg techniques now legendary for their destructive powers we were about to annihilate  a very small territory of Poland; for technical reasons going back to the Treaty of Vienna of 1815 still an independent Country in name only in 1939. The powers of devastation were ready to explode and annihilate the museums, artwork, buildings and a  small population now waiting on horseback with swords drawn to confront us.

As protocol officer, a redundant position in our military machine, but a remnant of more genteel times I was given task at the eleventh hour of  informing our victims that we would be one hour late in starting our belligerent activities.  It was the anniversary of the  Fuhrer's Mother's Birthday and out of respect to her we would not attack during the hour of 5PM that the Fuhrer and his dear Mother customarily ate dinner when he was a boy. Our carefully prepared battle plans and goals must accommodate the Fuhrer's  heart felt affection for his Mother's memories.

I greeted the trembling Generals of our opposition somewhat sheepishly:
"With embarrassing regret the German nation informs you that there will be a one hour delay...
end

Blues Music

Blues

fiction
edward w pritchard

I was seventeen when I told Grandmother the music she listened to was degrading. She enjoyed the old blues music of the thirties and forties that she had listened to as a young girl. Grandma just smiled and  told me she hoped I grew up to be a Teacher, Preacher or Businessman.

My opinions were tolerated by my Father. However when Uncle Clarence realized I had hurt his Mother's feelings he looked at me that once like he was going to hit me.

Grandma said to Uncle Clarence later in front of me that she hoped Brightly, her nickname for me, would find his way in life someday.

Fifteen years later I am a businessman. Grandmother is gone now but after my Daughter died I felt so bad for so long that I started listening to some of those Blues songs for solace and comfort. I wish now I could apologize to my dear Grandmother.

The Joys of Starting a small business

The Joys of Starting a small business

fiction
edward w pritchard

One day you wake from your confusion with a dashing idea of how to create wealth and personal activity and fulfillment. Ending your sloth, you have a fire in your soul to start a small business. First things first. In the beginning is financing and using your home equity line or credit card you race to the office supply store and buy a couple of nice pens, a personal planner and a hand held dictating machine. Next you drive around town for a few hours looking for office space, maybe the abandoned train depot; it's very scenic. Note business location on hand held dictating device. Then a trip to the library for market research followed by a trip to the drug store to buy a few magazines. One magazine about entrepreneurial enterprises and another concerning personal grooming, best look good at all times. By now very hungry a business lunch alone at our town's best restaurant. A couple of beers later, and after lunch; for market research you check the stock market and the price of gold, oil, and soy bean futures.

Next morning mood  changed you strain to remember your business plan. Fire gone you study college brochures.

me no like planning and goal setting

me no like planning and goal setting.

fiction
edward w pritchard

After Rachel and I got engaged her Father and other of her family members had several conversations with me about the lack of planning and goal setting in my daily life. When Rachel who I care a lot about asked me why I didn't like to plan, I told her the story about the crows from my childhood. Because of the crows I don't use planning and goal setting methods.

When I was eight years old, my Mother went to Chicago with my Father on family business.  During their absence I was to stay with the Burton family next door. Mr. Burton had raised three boys now grown and he and his wife ran a small farm and orchard well known locally for the apples. My Mother had grown up in the house we lived in and knew the Burton's well and trusted them. It was decided I would stay with the Burton's while my parents were in Chicago.

We were eating breakfast when I told Mr. Burton I had never shot a rifle. Mr. Burton was shocked; how could my Dad not have taught me to hunt or shoot? While I was at school, Mr. Burton made preparations to teach me the technique of shooting by designing a small shooting gallery in the backyard near the fence leading to the orchard. 

Mr. Burton met me as I got off the bus from school that Tuesday night and handed me a slim twenty two rifle. I was lead back to the fence by the orchard where Mr. Burton had tied four live crows to the top of the wood fence post using red twine and green wire to strongly secure the bird's feet to the fence rail. As we walked up I could hear the terrible squawking the birds made.

Thereafter, each day after school Mr. Burton would set a goal of what percent of the crows I would have to kill on the first shot. Eventually, I was supposed to hit all of the seven crows he had secured to the fence first shot. It wasn't  the shooting of the secured birds that is so bad a memory for me; it was cutting the dead crows off the fence with wire cutters that I still remember about the experience. Sometimes the birds would fly about during the confusion of the shooting and the green wire on their legs would get so tangled that I would have to snip the bird's legs rather than the wire to get the dead or injured crows off Mr. Burton's fence rail. Each night for a couple of weeks after I shot and then cut down the birds; my job would be to spray down the fence rail with the blue hose while Mr. Burton and I planned how to improve tomorrows performance. We would talk about it some more at supper and my goal of tomorrows percentage of first shot kills would be written on a yellow tablet near the telephone.

 Looking back on that experience is why me no like planning and goal setting I told my finance Rachel.

Anniversary reflections

Anniversary reflections

fiction
edward w pritchard

Lord you are 73 billion light years away, according to present assumptions 

I live seventy two years,  I hope with your blessing

I had thirty precious earthly anniversaries, now interrupted,

One collective month, accruing no more

Let light continue it's journey from my location to yours at the edge of the universe

Memories of earthly anniversaries to be my solace until we meet

Some Sensations are genetic -part 4

Some Sensations are genetic part 4

fiction
edward w pritchard

see part 1, 2 and  3

The Arch bishop had been ordered to have no contact with the Bishop named Father Winslow who became effected with the delusion of feeling a large cosmic impact as vibrations in his bones after hearing confession and counseling Father Dominion.  Never the less the Arch bishop began to have early morning awakening of his own shortly after the Bishop Father Winslow was unable to do his church work duties because of his delusions contacted through a chain of cause and effect beginning with Mya Johnstone the original woman in the sequence.

The arch bishop began to have early morning awakenings of being able to hear constant sounds  that he came to believe was back ground  noise from the original big bang birthing of  the universe. Additionally the Arch bishop came to have early morning awakenings of feeling  motion and movement that was physically happening 73 billion light years from where he now was. The sensations came to spill over into the arch Bishop's day time activities and were constant and effected his life, work, sanity and faith. Although strong willed The Arch Bishops was unable to sublimate the delusions and became unproductive in his habits.

In time the Arch bishop became the subject of an investigation at the Holy Church into the entire sequence of the early morning awakenings beginning with Mya Johnstone and ending with the Arch Bishop.
end part 4

Mr Jones achieves and loses salvation

Mr Jones achieves and loses salvation

fiction
edward w pritchard

A sinner was Mr. Jones. Not the big sins, but purely technical ones, like smoking and drinking after work and on Sunday after noons, and swearing regularly. He never hit the children in anger and even Mrs. Jones who feared for his mortal soul called him a good man. Never the less for years it was a contention between Mrs. Jones and her husband that he needed to go to church and receive the Lord.

One day at work a large piece of metal fell from a crane and Mr. Jones was only not killed by sheer luck or miraculous divine intervention, which being unknown. Mr. Jones went home that Wednesday night and told his wife he was going to publicly confesses his sins at church this weekend. Mrs. Jones was very happy.

By Sunday Mrs. Jones was acting in a confusing fashion and was dragging her feet about getting ready for Church, which was usual for her. Her and the children were always prompt about getting to church. Of course, Mr. Jones was ready  for Church early him being motivated today and this being the first time he had went.

When Mr. Jones asked his wife if she was ready, when she obviously wasn't she picked a large fight and declared she wasn't going because of his attitude today. Although confused Mr. Jones went on to church alone, was properly saved and then returned home to share the good news with his wife, which he was sure would make her happy.

Mrs. Jones continued the fight with a vengeance and Mr. Jones was bewildered and confused by her attitude. Of course Mr. Jones loved and adored Mrs. Jones and about two o'clock that Sunday Mr. Jones had a few beers and a few cigarettes and decided he was no longer saved. By six o'clock Mrs. Jones had forgiven Mr. Jones and they had a nice family meal together.

Mr Jones never mentioned the incident again. He did ask his Mother about it once and although she hadn't heard the whole story she suggested that maybe with Mrs. Jones everything was personal. Mr. Jones' Mother herself  seemed to know about those type of things from personal experience.

That's pretty much the whole story of how Mr. Jones achieved and lost salvation in one day. A few of the details such as the large piece of metal falling from the crane may be slightly inaccurate but one thing is for sure. Old Mr. Jones loved her, at least he thought he did. However, sometimes he had a little trouble understanding those type of personal things.

Gramsci was an Italian Marxist

Gramsci was an Italian Marxist

fiction
edward w pritchard

Student essays

Gramsci was an Italian Marxist.

As an example mini-hamburgers come only with pickles. A full size hamburger at a sit down restaurant comes with pickles and onions, lettuce, and tomatoes all for one price.  Of course a full sized burger costs more at a quality restaurant all things being equal. Where is the justice in this situation for the poorer citizens?

Of course Gramsci probably didn't eat burgers, being Italian and preferring pasta and other finer foods but the point is the same, ceteris paribus.

China: you have to admit the Dali Lama is cool

China: you have to admit the Dali Lama is cool

fiction
edward w pritchard

China: you have to admit the Dali Lama is cool. Many are the complexities of politics but his resignation from political life must be a surprise. Surely you must admire your Countryman at some level.

Maybe China can find some common ground with one of the world's premiere spiritual leaders.

Some Sensations Are Genetic Parts two and three-draft 1

Some Sensations Are Genetic-Parts two and three-draft 1

Some Sensations Are Genetic was originally published Feb 28,2010, this adds more to story

Fiction
Edward W Pritchard


The woman woke to the feel of delicate cat paws high up on her back, just below the shoulder blades. It was a large cat, not a tiger or panther, but midsized, like a lynx or bob cat and she felt the sensation of the instant before the weight of the springing cat caused her to fall forward and stumble or trip. The paws also had claws, sharp and potentially lethal but not extended yet and for now not drawn. The woman tensed her back as she roused from sleep expecting something further to happen.

As she had done every early morning for several days, when the sensation occurred, she quickly rolled on to her side and the impression of the cat paws went away. She again thought, now calmly, that she had experienced a distant memory of herself being killed by an animal. Each morning for several days she had had this same eerie experience, of waking to the first touch of a pouncing cat striking mid-way up her back with it's first exploratory touch, before digging into her vital organs beneath her skin.

Her boyfriend had suggested more sleep when she discussed her problem with him, which she had tried the last two nights but the exact same sensation had continued and later this morning she was skipping work, and going to see her Family doctor about it. Her Doctor was man of common sense and she felt better knowing she would be talking with him about the disturbance.

About a month later the woman was going to see a psychiatrist about the problem with the cat paws. Every morning since the first meeting with her Doctor she had had the same awaking experience. She had seen her Doctor three times and had also taken several tests at an out patient laboratory, including an MRI. Yesterday just a few hours before her fourth 11:00 AM meeting with her Family doctor, his office, had called her and canceled the appointment and told her to report to another Doctor, today at 10:00 AM a woman psychiatrist from China who also was a surgeon.

Three weeks and three visits to the psychiatrist later, the psychiatrist had personally called and told the woman that she had referred her to a neurosurgeon. The Psychiatrist also told her by phone, that she, the psychiatrist, was now having early morning awakenings, and had had them since very late the first night, following the first meeting with her new patient. The lady Psychiatrist every early morning woke to the sensation of herself freezing to death. She had become so disturbed by the feel of freezing that she thought it best if she not see the woman anymore. She also advised the woman that, the family Doctor, who had initially made the referral of the woman, to the psychiatrist, and this was in confidence please, well she continued somewhat nervously, the Family Doctor had began having awaking, again after the first meeting with the woman. The Family Doctor's sensation was of a short thick, roman style sword being plunged into his neck where the neck connected to the shoulder blades. The Family Doctor was not particularly disturbed, the psychiatrist had said, because it reminded him of an account of the death of Julius Caesar in the Senate
he had read as a boy and he, the Family Doctor thought it was a case of mass hysteria of some sort, due to the power of suggestion. The lady psychiatrist was inclined to disagree she had told the woman, because she said she had counseled thousands of client's, and heard many very disturbing stories, but this was the first time she had personally been drawn into someone's delusions. In any event the lady psychiatrist was referring the lady to a colleague who was a neurosurgeon, and a psychiatrist, and was considered an expert in the field  of psycho-somatic illnesses, having published on the subject.

The Neurosurgeon had called the woman two days after their first meeting. The first night after the consult the neurosurgeon had awoke to himself falling a moderate distance onto a ledge of rocks, He was sure it was a distant memory of a prior death, especially after he had it the second night and had experienced the sensation a full minute before rolling onto his side. He told the Woman that he couldn't see her anymore, not because of his own fears but because of what had happened to his wife. The neurosurgeon had mentioned his first awaking to his wife, after he had woke up very agitated, and the Doctor told his wife briefly about the new woman patient and the connection between their awakenings. This morning, the Doctor's second awakening and the wife's first occurred and the wife had woken to the sensation of herself gasping for air, laying on the ground, and trying to avoid a hot cloud of bad air and gas that was coming toward her. A few hours ago, the Doctors wife had refused to go to her job as a school teacher because she was afraid she would infect her students.

In desperation the initial Woman, with the Cat Paw sensation, had refused to see any more Doctors, and instead went to see the local Parish Priest. She had been raised a Catholic but hadn't attended Mass in a long time. The Priest agreed to see her, after reading a very brief written summary from her of what had happened but agreed to talk to her only in the confessional. He agreed to pray for her and told her for the time being to sleep on her side and not discuss the problem with anyone else. He said he would advise her further in a few days.

end part 1

Labels: sensations survive death

part 2
Father Dominion had heard the confession of Mya Johnstone the original woman who began the cycle of the early morning awaking dreams. Father's Dominion awaking dreams occurred only once and then he began to hear the voice of his now dead Mother in his head constantly throughout his waking hours. The Mother's voice was sharp and critical and caused him to startled and the hair on his neck would stand on end each time he heard the voice.

Father Dominion's first dream, after he heard the confession of Mya who had the awakening sensation of cat paws high up on her back, was of his Mother stabbing a former lover of hers in the neck and throat with whale bone jewelry pin over and over as the man she was with lay on her in sexual passion.

After the first dream Father Dominion had no more awakening dreams but because of the harshness and repetitiveness of the Mother's voice that he heard throughout each day, he became unable to do his work at the local Parrish. The dioceses gave him a small house to live in and a small annuity to live on. To drown out the voice in his head Father Dominion took to playing certain pieces of popular  music over and over which mitigated the voices racing through his thoughts.
end part 2

Part 3

The Bishop himself had spent several hours with Father Dominick. Father Dominick had been retired on a disability annuity at the diocese's expense because of his medical condition and Father Winslow the Bishop had heard Father Dominick's confession and consoled him.

Father Winslow was a man of Science as well as a Bishop and he had ignored the warnings not to get involved with Father Dominick who had become infected with the psychological infection originally spread by Mya Johnstone the original woman who started the cycle of delusions by having early morning dreams and awakenings about cat paws striking her in her back, just as a large cat was about to kill her. A mistake it seemed to ignore the warnings, for now Father Dominick the Priest and Scientist began to have early morning awakenings himself and his involvement in the situation spread the mass delusion far and wide.

Father Winslow awoke one Fall morning to feel the earth racing through space at a high rate of velocity. He felt the movement deep deep in his bones. The sensation of the earth racing through the Milky Way Galaxy did not cause him to become  nauseous as with motion sickness, but his bones seemed to vibrate from the movement. Over time the awakenings spread to his wakening hours and became an obsession that lead him to be unable to pursue his duties as a man of God. He was unable to function in any capacity for the Church.

The Bishop a very important man in the Scientific Community and in our church and his actions spread the cycle of the delusions of early morning awakenings throughout America and beyond our country's borders.

Father Winslow described his delusion as being able to feel the Earth, Sun and Solar System, and Milky Way Galaxy as racing and moving rapidly toward an unknown destination at about one hundred thousand miles per hour. The disturbing part he said, later under Papal oath was that the movement seemed out of control; ominously, as if it were as a vehicle with no brakes. He described the terror created by the situation as being able to feel  the vibration of the collision of two epically large objects one  moment before they were annihilated by a catastrophic impact.
end part 3

five minutes is so long

five minutes is so long

fiction
edward w pritchard

We hadn't been intimate but I thought of her sometimes and I ran into her and her husband and two kids at the home center store, the store where I didn't like to go but had to sometimes, like today. Her husband was one of those people who can only value things or people monetarily and it was tedious to be around him. The kids weren't too bad but she didn't seem connected to them. The husband had a habit of saying exactly the obvious thing in the wrong way that could be quite cloying.

We stood and talked for a minute or two and she relaxed a little as we talked about the old causes and ideals before her family came back and she had to resume her role again.

I was glad when they had to go, five minutes is so long to be with some people.

ex wife blues

ex wife blues

fiction
edward w pritchard

It had to be a virus on my computer. My second wife's match 234 account kept coming up on my computer screen. Her code name was adventure girl 568. My first wife would never have done anything like this to embarrass herself or me. At least wife number one was always a lady.


Now not only can I not get rid of the screen showing my second ex's cheesy pictures, her attempt to be alluring, from my computer but every week I get updates of all the new and exciting hobbies and interests she is supposed to be developing. Making picture frames from dried out grape vines, distilling gourmet ketchup from miniature tomatoes and doing ground breaking research into the leisure time habits of medieval monks in Muslim Spain. Additionally I see she is studying the latest Brazilian meditation techniques.

There are other interests she admits to that are too disgusting to mention. Suffice to say I assume she won't stay lonely long with her amorous proclivities, at least that she advertises herself to possess.

Finally I had enough. I see she is now in the thirty to forty year old age range. Bimini, we have a daughter together nearly that old. This time I am going to put my foot down.

Now how should I proceed? Best be careful, don't want the third wife to know what I am up to.
End

James Booker stay on that piano stool and just sing and play

James Booker stay on that piano stool and just sing and play

fiction
edward w pritchard

James Booker stay on the piano stool and just sing and play. No personal life stuff and no more editorial comments at the end of those songs. It's so poignant but just music please. That's life you know. Business and commerce always first; even  in the music business, even for artists, and even below sea level.

Certainly it's expected to suffer for your art but don't bring it too close. Sit in your chair and wait your turn.


Could we please hear St James Infirmary again, real slow please.

Private Funeral

Private Funeral

fiction
edward w pritchard

It was a private funeral with a security guard at the door to keep out the uninvited. We had been friends once, we both played third base for different teams in little league. We both were good at stopping the ball with our bodies or diving to the left and snagging a skidding line drive. We had different styles but we both loved baseball and once in a while we would pal around like kids do when they are ten and travel somewhere  for hours and hours and then exhausted stumble into someones house and have a couple peanut butter sandwiches.

Years and years pass and you lose touch permanently. I saw in the paper that he was gone and when I stopped at one of the funeral homes  in our old hometown the security guard greeted me at the door. Rather than cause any discomfort to his family I went around to the back of the parking lot at the funeral home and sat in my vehicle.

I watched the staff at the funeral home line up the cars for my old friends trip to the cemetery and repeat the same procedure for the funeral in parlor B, for someone I didn't now called the Lindwell family.

My friends family had a lot of very nice cars in it, new Mercedes and top of the line American cars. One young relative maybe a nephew in college had a Hummer, the kind known as military style. I saw one of our town's councilmen, and the University President and his wife get in their cars. Everyone quickly walked to their cars and  politely waited in silence for the long slow drive to the burial site.

The other family the Lindwell's had a lot of old trucks. When they came out of the parlor to get in their cars they put their hands on each others shoulders and helped each other into their vehicles. Five or six family members helped an older lady open and close the door of the second car of the procession, a black Cadillac obviously belonging to the funeral home.

From where my vehicle sat in the parking lot I watched the funeral staff load up the coffins for my friend from little league days and then the family from parlor B, the Lindwell  family and then pull both vehicles to the front of the perspective lines for the trip to the graveyard.  The funeral staff all in black suits followed the exact same procedure for both families. I watched after as both processions had left the premises several of the older men in black suits stood out side the loading dock area of the funeral parlor and had a cigarette or two before they went inside to start preparing for the early afternoon and late evening services in parlor A where my  dear friend had been and in parlor B where someone from the Lindwell family had just waited in their coffin. 

I sat in my vehicle for a long time in the back of the funeral parking lot until I started to get hungry. I fooled around with my radio dial with the engine off looking for a major league baseball game to listen to but apparently none were to be broadcast until this evening. After an hour or so one of the suited workers from the funeral home came over to check on me but I told him that I was fine. A light rain had begun, so, I started  my truck to go get a sandwich for lunch, and then head on back to work.
end

Lotte Lenya and Friday nights

Lotte Lenya and Friday nights


see-beware a woman with [an alias] February 26th blog
fiction
edward w pritchard

Since I was a teenage boy I wanted to call Lotte Lenya the actress and singer every Friday night. Not because of the movie role in the Bond film but because of the German accent and how she sang Mack the Knife in German in the original recording for the Three Penny Opera.

She was very old before I discovered her back in the 1960's and it wasn't her as an old woman that I wanted to know but her as a young girl in Vienna, trying to break in as an actress, and just getting that breakout role.

I never made it to Vienna and by the time I made it to New York City Lotte Lenya was long gone. Alas we missed each other; still it would have been nice to know a mysterious woman with an alias, especially one who sang Mack the Knife in German or Pirate Jenny conspiratorially.

spring on jupiter and mars

spring on jupiter and mars

see ten year sentence, Willie Tucker's blues 06/08/10 and Two minutes until I die march 2011 blog
edit and merge all
fiction
edward w pritchard

Subtle are seasons in space but with time us stationed there get into the rhythm of nature and are able to adapt to the faint differences between seasons on the various planets in the solar system. Over time as a veteran explorer of the inner  planets of the solar system I was able to enjoy the particularities of spring on Jupiter and Mars. 

Mars is cold and solid. Jupiter is a gaseous planet and there is lots of activity at the surface. From the moons of Jupiter, especially on Io the closest moon, spring is a welcome time near Jupiter.

I was stationed on Io as a space bulldozer driver when Spring effected me in year of  2034. As men are wont to do in spring, even in space, I met a girl that Spring on Io and my life changed because of it.
end

after the volcanoes

after the volcanoes

fiction
edward w pritchard

After the volcanoes, and after the earthquakes they caused and after the tsunami all was in chaos and  I walked through the disruption unfazed. Secretly I welcomed the turmoil although I saddened for the suffering of those around me. Nature had manifest our inner struggles externally and everyone must see and feel them.

After the tsunami I went to the ocean and watched for the waves. After the earthquakes I stood in the city and watched for the buildings to fall. After the volcanoes I went to the mountains to see what was anew.

After nature erupted I sat quietly and enjoyed the silence.

Sometimes there no hope

Sometimes there is no hope

fiction
edward w pritchard

Sometimes there is no hope.  The  war is lost, the battles are over, the business is bust, the child is really dead. The precious love is removed and heard no more.

The heart refuses to see. The mind sends its troops over and over to convince logically, then metaphorically at night in dreams, and finally day by day the absence becomes concrete and apparent.

The heart remains blind. The heart smears mud on the glasses so the eyes perceive through a cloud, darkly.

The mind sends messages from the subconscious,  music about the suffering of others, sent through the ears as example  to convince the heart.


At length, the mind calls on all the parts of the body and senses to convince the heart that there is no hope.

The heart refuses to see although it understands. Faith is born and the glass is now half full in viewing all things.

the way station to the next place

• The Way station to the next place
  

fiction
edward w pritchard

The way station to the next place was chaotic and crowded and the workers were unable to handle the rush. It was intolerable how we were treated and the lines and the wait went on for days. We certainly weren't used to this sort of treatment.


Over and over someone would push and shove to the front of the line and demand to speak to someone and then be incredulous that someone of their importance would have to endure this ordeal. However it was to no avail and the workers treated everyone the same and all must wait in the endless lines and then complete the required documentation before they could move on towards their next destination.

In time I noticed that the Buddhists were handling the situation better than the rest of us. They seemed to be sitting quietly and meditating and waiting patiently. The Catholics and Baptists were the most impatient and expected special treatment. The Muslims and the Hindus were trying to follow procedure, at least they weren't making a fuss or a scene and seemed to have accepted that things had changed for them after their demise.  

Eventually I became more patient like the Buddhists. I waited until my turn and I accepted the fact that our status had changed when we died and we just had better follow procedures and wait our turn to move to the next place. I pretended I was very delayed at an airport and I tried to act civilly while I waited to move on.

Yes, eventually I figured out how to follow the new rules.  I was able to move on after my earthly extinction but I didn't like my loss of status and  I certainly  wasn't used to how I was being treated..
end

green tip, slow amble, good coffee

green tip, slow amble, good coffee

fiction
edward w pritchard

Green tip, slow amble, good coffee. The girl repeated it twice when dazed she stumbled into camp.

She was very beautiful.

Next morning I dumped out the coffee I had made her when I saw her with another cup. Hours later I espied Winslow and Myers standing outside the infirmary each carrying coffee and other embellishments for her. They looked ridiculous.

Before she left she smiled at me once because I am sure she saw me with the cup for her yesterday.

I went back to my tent and wondered what she was like. I so lonely here.

A Thousand years without a miracle-part 2

A Thousand years without a miracle-part 2

fiction
edward w pritchard

Up river from Vasari the Purna Kumbha Mela will again be held at Prayag in January of the year 2013. It is an auspicious festival for the Hindu's. In 2013 more than 125 million will attend the festival. It is at Prayag that the thousand year miracle will occur when the planet Jupiter is properly aligned and the miracle will occur because of the incessant prayers of a sadhu holy-man.
end
part 2

to lalie

to lalie

willie tucker's blues-part 2a

fiction
edward w pritchard

Let this be our last shared thrust my love,
as Jupiter spews forth molten rock
and Io pushes forward to receive.
God said: Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places:
let our deaths join us.
I sink as gravity's heaviness makes me unable to breathe and i feel you near,
reach out your hand and guide me again to your side.
Eternity awaits, I long to journey far beyond our solar system
and float with you and enjoy celestial twinklings
as the stars brush against our fingers
and primordial dust manufactures our children.

Two minutes till I die / willie tucker's blues-draft

Two minutes till I die / Willie Tucker's blues-draft

see willie Tucker's blues and Ten year sentence 6/8/10 and 6/9/10
compile and merge all

fiction
edward w pritchard

You can see the flare that will kill you from a volcanic explosion on Jupiter two
minutes before you die. Shock waves travel strangely in the dense gravity of Jupiter, and in dense space between Jupiter and it's moon Io; but eventually a shock wave from a major volcanic explosion on Jupiter will kill you. End you and obliterate you at least if you are human, but on a cosmic scale the volcanic dance of push/pull between Jupiter, Io and gravity has been going on for millions of years without much change to either.

I was driving my bulldozer on Io's surface and by chance happened to look up exactly as the eruption occurred. The flash of a major level twenty two blast is brilliant and for a moment or two I forgot my training and just watched the optics. Then out of habit and with the benefit of countless hours of drill and rehearsal I hit my stop watch and focused the cameras in the dozer's cab to capture the shock wave images that would annihilate me in one minute and 49 seconds. Training or no I wasted another twelve seconds adjusting and arranging my personal items in the cab before I got down to protocol for one's last few minutes to live from Jupiter's volcanic activity.

From one minute and thirty five seconds to one minute fifteen I sent and saved to off site disc various surface pressure measures of Io's atmosphere and then today's excavation reports of Io's and Jupiter's underground compression ratios, and various specific gravity analysis data concerning water pressure, and other underground liquids. That done, I had insured that my life insurance proceeds would be paid by the corporation to my beneficiaries. Business and duty concluded, I could relax and enjoy my last minute and a quarter to live.

Using my stylus and micro-lap top I decided to write to Lalie my girlfriend, killed about ten days ago also in earthquakes on Io, rather than to Sharon my fiance back in Chicago on earth who I hadn't seen in twenty six months, spoken to in four or thought much of in five months. It being five months almost to a day since I first laid eyes on Lalie.

Without much time first I downloaded and saved two files I had wrote before for Lalie, one that I had published for her Eulogy, and then I wrote a fast blues piece for Lalie, began below then finished in part two

To Lalie:
attached in part 2

end part one.

a compromise: the dover bitch and dover beach

a compromise: the Dover bitch and Dover beach



fiction
edward w pritchard

Having aged ungracefully she wanted nothing more than a good dinner. Welks or cockles, or at least mussels and clams and bread and wine of course and pasta and two desserts. It was tedious to hear his prattling again and again but she had lost her looks and it was the price to be paid for companionship and dinner.

Sighing he finished his soliloquy surprised to see she had listened. He was hungry too although with the exchange rate as it was he would eat lightly which was just as well for the seaside always took away his appetite.

Being seated the waiter by habit gave the couple the expensive tourists menus as he held the plump lady's hand and assisted her into a chair. The gentleman must be watching for something surmised the waiter and he positioned the nervous man so he could stare at the ocean as he handed him the tourists wine lists.

Diner over both dreaded the trip to the hotel room.
end

Ceara a precious gem

Ceara a precious gem

fiction
edward w pritchard

Ceara a precious gem. Many faceted, complex, complicated. Sometimes was it intriguing to explore Ceara sides and natures; many there were. Time was an ally as alone I explored for unreflected surfaces hidden deep aside of Ceara's psyches.

Sundry times was it troublesome to travail Ceara's moods and bewitcheries; many there were. Rainy days set her off; direction unintuitivable. In a winter freeze Ceara hardened unapproachable. Then slim like a boy, curve-less until aroused, she simmered until polished and deemed shine without sunlight until exploding she brightened our moods.

Ceara semi precious, hidden in slag, anxious to be discovered, hiding in rock sides, polished by dashing waters, cautiously approached eyes lowered countenance hopeful.

zeitgeist

zeitgeist

fiction
edward w pritchard

We spend an entire lifetime trying to figure what it all means. We can't, we are too enmeshed in the zeitgeist.

Near death we understand. Ancients did too and decided that we must live again and again to see the truth.

Reincarnation.

villanova junction and jimi hendrix

villanova junction and jimi hendrix

fiction
edward w pritchard

see posting the computer who thought Ghe was God - blog Feb- [for the premise]

Ghe 439 was one of the last series seven, highest caliber artificial intelligence units designed. Ghe's primary task was to identify, classify, name and categorize over 400 billion stars in the Milky way galaxy. Using various computer related tools, abilities and techniques Ghe 439 was able to explore the entire milky way galaxy using pure mind, and a priori complete the categorization duties.

The Ghe was decommissioned eventually for irreverence and insubordination. However, as a tribute to it's human programmers, the artificial intelligence sent an endless set of Jimi Hendrix "Villanova Junction" across the Milky Way star system. The song was re engineered to never repeat and to go on into eternal perpetuity.

 Of course it's obviously just a gesture since the Milky Way is an insignificant star system. Still it was some sort of tribute to humanity.

birth part 1 and two

Birth part 1 and 2

fiction
edward w pritchard


out on the ledge part 1

birth

Kery a woke to find him find himself in a constant cold drizzle climbing down a sloping tin roof trying to get to the north edge of the roof which was the lowest so he might drop off and get back on solid ground. There were ribs sticking up in the roof about four inches high that held the roof together and they were very sharp. To move down toward the drop off point Kery had to settle himself down slowly, while fighting gravity, which wanted to crash him forcibly to the ground below which would kill him because of the fall. All the time he lowered himself, lying face down on his stomach, stretched to his full height, moving slowly forward a cold rain froze to the metal roof and made his hands not function properly. He needed his hands because he had to hold them just so so or he would slice his fingers on the razor sharp ribs holding the roof together on the old house. Kery's arms ached from the exertion of holding himself steady and the muscles of his stomach and sides quivered from the exertion.

Looking down into the house below he could see the people in the room below had had a baby girl. The girl was the center of attention and was in a small baby crib and several people crowded around. The realization came to Keri that he might be looking into his great grand mother's house and the baby was his grandmother. The great grandmother had died when Keri was four, he had been taken to see her once at an old nursing home when she was 98. The grand mother, who might be the baby girl, had died when Keri was twelve and he had known her only as an old woman. The great grandmother was dark haired and beaming. The baby was a beautiful baby.

It was windy up on the roof and Kerry had to stay low to be able to see because of the icy rain driven by a light persistent wind. His lower back began to spasm from the strain of steadying himself as using his hands he descended along the sharp ribs toward the drop off point at the edge of the roof. He was very fatigued. Once or twice the realization flashed to him that if he let go he would still end up on the ground.

He was aware suddenly that gloves would help his ordeal. After that flash of insight he became aware how desperately he wanted to get to the ground safely. He tried to stop in his descent and rest and found out he could, but the pain to his muscles and hands intensified. With that realization Keri inched painfully toward the drop off point. Now he was aware that he was being resisted from moving forward. He was being pushed down strongly and held back forcibly. There was profound fear of the next outcome. Keri was driven to move. In addition to the rain and wind he began to hear sounds. Keri continued toward the drop off point.
end part 1

part 2

conception

We are a drop of water or moisture falling and falling. Going somewhere significant and important. The destination is familiar but not understandable and mundane but forgotten. We approach our destination and union occurs. Explosive activity begins immediately and all of reality is changed permanently by our existence and creation. Instantly, although we have just been created as one cell becomes two then four, we began to die, although it is not apparent.
end

A Thousand years without a miracle-part 1

A Thousand years without a miracle-part 1

fiction
edward w pritchard

A thousand years without a miracle leads to a high percentage of skeptical citizens. Many the people around Benares, India had lost faith in the sacred river Ganges miraculous powers. To a Hindu to die in the river Ganges leads to instant release from the cycle of rebirth. To a devout Hindu a mere drop of water from sacred Ganges would cause God Shiva to utter a prayer of crossing that would give relief from endless wheel of rebirths for three lives. Without rebirth human suffering is mitigated.

Among cities along the Ganges, few are more sacred and holy than Benares and paradoxically few stretches of the Ganges River are more polluted or defiled by human use than the water around Benares. The waters in the River for thousands of years have been used for ritualized bathing, the ghats along the river serve as a gathering place for humans, and death rites and rivers burials are performed in the waters of the Ganges. Human society likewise in Benares has become corrupted as ambitious young street kids sell hashish and opium. The back alleys of Benares are as terrifying as any in India.

One Term politicians are best

One Term politicians are best


fiction
edward w Pritchard


Jimmy Ospers
Grade 9
October 27, 2015
A Report on the President

The last President was the first Black man elected to that high office and his term in office proved to be enigmatic and difficult to categorize. He was highly popular as man, but had at the same time, ended his term with a historically high disapproval rating. Additionally for the good of the country, he alienated most of his early staunch followers. Now, however, his status among professional politicians and political scientist continues to grow, as the long term effects of his policies are evaluated in the light of history, and more objectively, his policies are measured statistically using cloud computing statistical variance regression techniques developed in the last 18 months at Intel and Google.

Conservatives of course, dis-liked the President, and they felt he had went too far,with literally, bowing to several foreign leaders, men who hated and disdained our country, and the conservatives thought his kowtowing, as they called it, weakened America's traditional role as a strong power, a la Teddy Roosevelt, or Dwight Eisenhower. Also his including his families wishes and needs in his travel plans and public appearances was highly unpopular and unmercifully ridiculed, and these sexist remarks will not be repeated here. Lastly, the food incident at the notable Chinese Dinner in Beijing, in August 2011, where the President hand carried his plate, and gave it to the handicapped Chinese man credited with changing the most populous Country in the world's attitude on disabilities, in the last century, circa 1990, from Handicapped and useless, to handicapped and capable, remarkably also somehow upset a majority of Americans at least according to the polls from August and September, 2011.

Still, what was most surprising was reaction among the President's traditional supporters to two main issues that caused the Last President to become a One term President and in this writer's humble opinion, thereby become the most effective President of the last one hundred years.

[Jimmy- this is a sweeping statement- Site facts, more proof, numbers statistics -- Professor Tate]

Everyone is aware of the president's decision to not run again in 2012 because of Family issues, as it has been a soap opera, and is, thank God, now passe. However, the second and main reason, from a political strategy standpoint that the Last President didn't seek re-election was over the fallout from Proposition 103.

Proposition 103 was initiated in New Jersey, in November, 2011, and was an attempt to lower, a historically unprecedented unemployment rate [ 19%] that was the result of the fallout from the sub prime/derivative crisis of 2007.

{Jimmy- how about information on how the official unemployment rate came to be revised from 10 to 19% in 2011 and how that effected the sitting President.-Professor Tate]

Proposition 103 gained national attention because of the inability of over 20 states to be able to meet their Pension obligations to government employees caused by desperate elderly civil servants retiring en mass to maintain their agreed to but unfunded benefits.

A National referendum was called for by several States, as Friends of the Court, in support of proposition 103, and in a shocking surprise move the President supported the referendum which caused massive unhappiness from his traditional supporters.

The supporters were incised because the National Proposition forbid any civil servant or government employee or lobbyist, to work in government more than 9 years. There was to be no Grandfathering for existing employees. While there were a few exceptions for National Security, primarily in the Army, the sweeping legislation was to have a profound effect on the labor force. As an example, under the rotating job requirement, all teachers, fireman and policeman, could not stay in their own job more than 6 years, and must exit all government employment after 9 years, the idea being to allow younger workers a chance to gain expertise and job skills, and to encourage the 9 year workers to start small businesses or branch into other fields. The President was advised by his pollsters, and other members of his party, that the the major group who would lose from the proposition were urban black's who had entered fire, police, teaching and government in the 1980's and 1990's, but the President refused to follow the party line and supported Proposition 103.

Nearly, all the existing unions, labor groups and professional organizations opposed the plan to limit any governmental employment to nine cumulative years, but obviously, as we now all know, that the Proposition passed and the programs have been a huge success, lowering unemployment rates to 2 % in 2013, spurring massive small business growth and creation, and increasing tax revenues, and resulting in a balanced budget in 2014.

However, in 2011, such benefits were years away at best, and as the Wall Street Journal remarked in a headline, July 24, 2011,

"President bows to Chinese, and Wife and kids , but kicks labor in rear"

Shortly there after, the President announced his intention not to seek re-election, and then in a short six month period undertook a fury of needed reforms destined to turn around the country and reduce big government in America once and for all.

His success of course is limited by customary ballyhooing of current politicians to take credit for anything good and blame others for all failures, still anyone who makes an objective evaluation of the last President would have to admit that while unconventional, he was a good man, and took political risks for the long term good of his country as a whole, and America's stronger than ever before, in 2015, and the Last President while unpopular when he left office deserves a lot of the credit for the stable current political situation domestically in America.

Jimmy,
Good Paper
This needs more numbers to support your argument, but this is college level thought, I disagreed with your comments on deficit, but I realize that is beyond the scope of this paper. I hope you continue to follow political science as we need more unconventional thinking in the field.
Professor Tate
B+