THE SEASON THAT STAYED TOO LONG

Like a visit from your Uncle Charley, scheduled for a couple of weeks, now turned into months.  The refrigerator cleaned of beer, the TV clicker worn to black, your car without gas, and cigarette butts now littering your lawn.  This season has stayed too long.

A ship’s visible manager and crew now turned into  human dart boards, where no one bothers  to pull out the darts.  Have enough been thrown to keep them from scurrying around?  How deep are the wounds?  Someone cut them from the stakes, burning flesh is too much.

The GM in a lifeboat gone fishing in a sea with no fish, and no bait.  The few he landed all rotting and brown.  Now looking at the cyber charts, where is the Arizona Sea anyway?  Make like a flower, blend into a wall.

The owner thrown in a boiling pot, surrounded by Lilliputians with spears, chanting and screaming.  A little more pepper, and a dash of salt.  Now that the owner has been dragged into their village with the pot, you know how this ends.  He’ll suddenly jump out, and everyone will all run for cover as he thrashes about. 

The Titanic is well below the surface, down a thousand feet now, trying to make one last desperate lurch to show some strength, and give some sign of hope.  But the inevitable thud is approaching, followed by the shattering of pieces, and then the long, dark, cold void.  In the cold depths movements are painful.

Making matters worse, the relatives in the village to the North have thrown an epic party.  Blue is turning on red.  Destiny is all but assured, and history is being made.  Great history in the North, unfortunate in the South.  Forever sealed, for all to face, forever – how can one deal with that?.  How can things change this fast?  Can’t wait to hear the Gasorda gloat.

Everyone waiting for the tipping point to come, but that seems to be centuries away.  Can the ship be raised?  Can the pieces be salvaged?  Will it crumble as it’s lifted?  The final depth is unknown, the resources uncertain, further damage is always possible.  Endurance, patience, creativity, humor, skill, understanding, planning…. too much to think about, too much to fathom.  

It’s now time to say goodbye to Uncle Charley, and to jettison The Season That Stayed Too Long.