Yesterday (Thursday, December 14, 2023 - as I write this), we have at last turned the final page, read the afterword, glanced briefly at the rear endpapers, and slammed the back cover decidedly shut on "Our Crime Story"!
And, while it seemed to Esther and I as if it were to be a "never-ending story", it's beginning on November 17, 2023 - and ending on December 14, 2023, clocks it in as just shy of a month!
...But OH, what a terrible, frenzied, panicked, and ultimately draining month it was!
Now, since this humble Blog may very well have inherited the mantle of "The Happiest Place on Earth", with the Disney theme parks having fallen from the top spot in recent years - some of it brought on by the actions of the Disney organization itself, but more of it the result of ambitious and overreaching political figures and the groups that support them - I'm not going to elaborate on the details of "Our Crime Story" in this otherwise "Happy" venue...
...Suffice it to say Esther and I became the victim of TWO completely unrelated crimes - perpetrated by TWO (or more?) completely unrelated persons - that, through a convoluted and very unlikely series of events, somehow became connected... but only in ways that continued to impact our lives!
I'm both surprised - and pleased - to say that the ending of "Our Crime Story" was far "happier" than I imagined - ultimately resulting in a loss of about fifty dollars in cash, when it could have been considerably more far-reaching! Devastatingly far-reaching, I must add!
If you believe in any sort of "A Great Cosmic Balance", or what some folks call "Due", or anything of that sort, I guess I *might* have had it coming! But, NOT ESTHER... who lived and worked in the street-crime ridden version of New York City of the 1970s thru the early-to-mid 1980s (...which, alas, has made a comeback in the last few years), and was a three-time victim...
On the other hand, I, who have spent the vast majority of my life in the near-in New York City suburbs - and whose worst brush with crime was having the radio antenna stolen off my car (...coincidently, during the brief period of my adult life that I lived in Brooklyn - as evidenced by all those Letters of Comment I had published in the comics of the "Disney Interregnum" - with thanks to Elaine!). That is, assuming you don't count as actual "crimes" post-divorce dealings with an ex-wife and the railroading - let alone the outright efforts of career sabotage - associated with toxic office politics! ...Had a lifetime's worth of THAT STUFF!
It stands to figure that Karma was waiting to serve up a big helping of crime to yours truly and, having done so, I consider that particular instance of "Great Cosmic Balance" achieved and done!
YOU HEAR ME, KARMA... ACHIEVED AND DONE! ...Go away and drop some crime and (especially) punishment on the domestic and world political leaders (present and recent) who deserve it far more than this humble Blogger who's (mostly) "played by the rules" his entire life!
Related to this, since I've lived this long without ever breaking a bone, and suffered no greater physical injuries than hand, arm, and face scrapes in a sidewalk fall (save one serious eye injury, caused by a tiny floating piece of construction debris while walking in Greenwich Village in 1982), I DO dread Karma's possible future visit to balance that score - but ENOUGH OF THAT - LET'S RESUME BEING "THE HAPPIEST PLACE (...okay, maybe just "Blog" but my ambitions are set on "place") ON EARTH!
Our normal (and decidedly "happy") posting will resume very soon! Thanks for being here! You make it all worthwhile!
