born a credit, die as a debit; the slate is wiped clean

born a credit, die as a debit; the slate is wiped clean

fiction
edward w pritchard

Wow, sometimes you have to work a little to understand things.

When you are born a credit is created and inexorably sometime after a debit will erase you. There's nothing else to say and nothing to worry about and not thinking about it will not change the end. That's all there is to it.

Here's what I wrote when I understood for myself.

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2013

Steppin' out; it's philosophy round the clock but it's blues after midnight at my house / part 2

Steppin' out; It's philosophy round the clock but it's blues after midnight at my house/ part 2

fiction
Edward w Pritchard

for Memphis Slim who woke me up

That Doctor didn't mince his words. I could cash in the chips any day now. I would be lucky to make it a few more months. The old heart had been broken once and for all and was about to stop. Life would go on but not for me.

I took the news well I thought. I had been half dead for a long time anyway.

That Doctor was no diplomat. My few loved ones were crowded around a hospital bed and I felt a little foolish for bringing on such a fuss. Maybe I should think about myself instead of the bill. This sounded serious. Even my dearest friend had stopped by, she kind of smiled down at me and I felt a little better.

It looked like I might be steppin out of this life real soon. When you hear the news it's like the book you have been reading is suddenly turned to the last page. What's the secret message of it all?

Well for me it was all about Memphis Slim. Yes, the piano blues man. He brought me comfort in my grief. " you may have me all the time, you may never pass my way, Mother Earth is waiting for you that's a debt you got to pay."

Suddenly the hospital bill doesn't seem so important.

Memphis Slim's lyric were cleaved from an ancient rock and handed to me in language I couldn't ignore. " You may not be happy all the time, you may never feel that way, Mother Earth is waiting for you that's a debt you have to pay." It was the same old song but with a different meaning that night after the heart tried to quit pumping once and for all.

The blues sing a lonely walk. Mean old blues you got to walk alone. Nobody else can walk them for you. Your diamonds will keep their beauty long after you are gone only some one else will wear them and worry about thieves taking them.

"When it all  comes down you got to get down to Mother Earth."

A series time or B series time in philosophy is so confusing. Change your philosophy; " when it all comes down you got to get back to Mother Earth."

show people smile when they feel low

show people smile when they feel low

fiction
edward w pritchard

Seven thousand times I carried Darcina's battered tuba and case up three flights of steps to the back of a smoggy greyhound bus or if we were traveling the 1970's Vaudeville revival circuit in the East an Amtrac sleeper car with the Heater on the blink and blankets as thin as a road manager's loyalty to a backup singer in the troupe who has permanently lost her voice.

While Darcina and her pretty sister Irene gave nine shows a week across the theater's of small-town America for 28 years I was the arranger and road Manager for their duo. Bouncer and dietitian I double quick-ed over to the Woolworth's in the rain twenty minutes before the 8PM show to get pancake-cover makeup the second time Irene's first Husband Ronnie gave her a black eye in upper New York State and got the permanent lower back cramps from keeping  my arms around Darcina while she slept on the night train from Bryan, Ohio to Chicago the night Mr. Porter told her She was getting too old for lead billing anymore.

Darcina and I never married and I never had my name on the program but for 28 years I never had to buy a ticket to watch good Vaudeville in America and in time I learned the words to all the songs and heard every dirty joke about girl's in the Band there was to tell.

One day though through a fog someone dis-interested tells you somewhat kindly that Vaudeville is dead and gone, never was really and your way of a life has become an anachronism or if they are too polite to use that big word a bit of a hindrance and you hang on for a while with the troupe still carrying the old tuba but you don't sit with the troupe anymore in the dining car on the Amtrac to Chicago until one day Mr. Porter tells you that you will need a regular priced ticket if you want to watch the act from tonight on forward.

coal stocks are so 1940's

coal stocks are so 1940's

fiction
edward w pritchard


Looks like several American coal companies will be filing chapter 11 in the next few weeks. It looks like President Obama and the Green lobby have spoken and the coal industry in America is down for the count. SEE WLT, ANR, ACI and BTU, coal stocks are on the critical list.

Here's what I wrote before;

Separately Chinese stocks and ADR's traded in America are tanking as well but the Green lobby can't be blamed for that one.

President Obama and war against coal


fiction
Edward w Pritchard




As Julius Caesar humbled Gaulic chieftain Vercingetorix  so President Obama brings the American Coal industry to it's knees.


Coal stock prices have fallen more than 20% in a few days off already historic lows. Deflation or the environmental lobby lead by President Obama looking to destroy a source of pollution and global warming?


Does America need vibrant coal companies in case of a real War if we must fight a determined and fortified opponent?


Cell phones and Alibaba's do not run on coal. Is there a connection between weak American coal stocks and sky rocketing stock prices for Chinese online retailers? Perhaps in time Alibaba can use it's gigantic cash stash to buy America's coal reserves. As far as I know it still gets cold in China sometimes and the Chinese still use some coal to generate electricity. Or are hard commodities now obsolete in the era of super duper wrist watches from Apple and American investors pushing and fighting to own restrictive ADR's on Chinese on line retailers whose boards and directors are answerable to the communist party.


As the philosopher said, reason is dead and flux is the new King.


Me, I watch the junk bonds of the leading coal companies fall day after day and dream of a mega turn around the equities of ANR or WLT.