Digressions of a Dilettante

Digressions of a Dilettante
Vignettes of Inanity by Bud Hearn

Thursday, July 19, 2007

Dog Days in Dixie

Friends:
Dog Days in Dixie

Samson, Samson, the Philistines are upon you…..” Judges 16



Atlanta, July 19, 2007

That mangy dog, Sirius (the Dog Star), rises before dawn and precedes Ole Sol through the heavens. He is the Inflictor of this heat wave that occurs annually between July 6th – August 15th.

Atlanta seems immune to the dull Dog Days of the Coast where, I’m told, yesterday was so hot tires melted on Demere, the ocean boiled as a hot caldron and oiled sunbathers were seen writhing in agony from instantaneous combustion and fleeing the flaming beach sands. It was a sight to behold witnesses reported.

But not here in this city of gleaming new high-rise condos, where the pursuit of wealth has pre-empted the effect of Dog Days. New Millionaires are being created here by the minute, according to the news, and over 64,000 of them are now here, all cruising the streets dodging potholes in their new Bentleys, Benzs, BMWs and lesser chariots like Escalades. It also is a sight to behold …. There’s money lying in the streets, folks, and with great frenzy The Achievers are scooping it up by the bucket-full and apparently buying these luxury condos.

I almost fell for some of the slick ads and street posters advertising these soaring taj mahals of urban lifestyle myself….elderly smiling couples sipping champagne, butlers delivering tea on silver platters, young Gen Xers gazing skyward in amazement at what could be their life’s ultimate statement. It’s all a sight to behold, that’s for sure.

Of course, here the Big News is that the Falcon’s Savior, Michael Vick, has been indicted for hosting pit-bull dog fights… which seems an inhumane but novel way to pass the lethargy of Dog Days. Fights to the end, bloody, men (and perhaps their women, too) gone mad, screaming, betting, all the while the poor dogs are secured by heavy chains to car axels ---- it’s an evil enterprise, pit-bull fighting, and perhaps some similar consequence should be the justice meted out to the perpetrators. I have some novel thoughts of my own for these people!

As for me, I was stranded in a warehouse in Chamblee along with 7 other fools, sweat spurting from our pores and melting in the stifling humid heat of the place where the only moving air I could detect was from the participants…and that was hot air to be sure: My God, what a man will do for money… but none of us found any lying on the floor of that hellish place, although we were hopeful.

While no one can say for sure, I have it on Good Authority that Samson was lulled into lethargy during Dog Days and suffered mightily for it, which goes to prove there are real but unseen dangers of a heat-induced mindset. But right now I am planning my escape from the City of Temptation before the Philistines fall upon me as well!



Bud
July 19, 2007

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