I witnessed a near beat-down at the post office earlier this week. Some drunk-ass woman tried to line jump, and a man stopped her from doing so. This set off a verbal tirade from Drunky - "What are you, a fag? Don't you fags let ladies go ahead of you in line?" - etc. etc. The guy ignored her until she put her hands on him at which point he told her, "I don't associate with white trash", which set off some giggles among the rest of us. About two minutes later Drunky's husband (let's call him Cletus) came in. Drunky told him how this guy had dissed her and Cletus actually put up his dukes (just like some grown-up Little Rascals episode,) at which point a postal employee yelled from behind the counter, "Sir, you're on federal property. I suggest you do that somewhere else." Way to kill the in-line entertainment.
My 15-year-old nephew, H. arrives tonight for his visit. I plan to let him map out our travels for the week; S. is buried in work right now so it will be just H. and me for much of the time he's here. (He may get pressed into service for one of S.'s jobs, however, which will give him a hell of a story to tell when he gets home!)
S. and I went to the ARMADILLO CHRISTMAS BAZAAR this week and had a nice visit with the PEOPLE who made our wedding rings. S. surprised me later that night with a necklace he'd sneakily purchased from them. The bazaar itself provides some excellent people-watching in a town that presents numerous such occasions on a daily basis. They book great musical acts every year and...there's beer! It's a bit like an indoor street fair, minus the fried food and tube sock stands.
The older charge has discovered Christmas music and yesterday sang me the most earnest, beautifully monotone (in that way that only kids' singing can be) version of "The Little Drummer Boy" I've ever heard. He sang it all the way through and then asked me, "Who is the newborn king to see?". I said, "Baby Jesus is the newborn king." His response: "Laura, babies can't be kings." I'm a Buddhist, kid. You want more in-depth analysis? Go ask your folks.