Dear 123Greetings subscriber,

Halloween is on, it’s time for freaky fright fun, what say buddies? Just not that, a lot more in store this week and tell you what, for every one of you I’ve something to share. Ha! The happiest of friends never have the same characters, but a better understanding of their differences. . . go figure, but for now just hop on. . . let’s explore!

Ah! Halloween. It reminds me of an incident that happened last year when Ron tried his hand at a Halloween prank at office. Am sure you wouldn’t like to miss this one.

Mr. B, our boss, has a cool head on his shoulders alright, but when you spring surprises like the way Ron does, you should’ve nerves of steel to keep your composure intact.

He sneaked in a Jack-O-Lantern to work and it was a designer one! Yes. It had the eye sockets dug and tastefully carved out nose and mouth to make it look scary errr. . . rather funny. Anyways, our Resident Evil Ron, though technologically-challenged, did go the Einstein-way and wired the lights to the sockets, coiled a few coils, taped tight some sundry wires; plugged it in and announced “Mission Accomplished” Bush-style! Looked real neat, I should confess. Of course, we immediately cried for a “demo,” but alas, none was forthcoming. Ron said it had to wait until Mr. B entered.

And so came our Boss with a grand swagger breezing past and stood in his tracks on seeing the alien pumpkin, Ron errr. . . the Lantern! Momentary silence as Boss stood, staring at the creature. With the right pause and timing Ron made his move and hit the switch. The lights came on and there was an eerie glow that engulfed the room, the colors were Wow and the scene scary. . . almost. Genius Ron, I thought! And then the inevitable happened. Sure, the lights were cool, but realistically they were hot and they heated up the vegetable, the accumulated pressure releasing as it must. The sockets turned red with electric glow and the left eye turned a missile and there was eye contact with Mr. B himself! Eye contact? Yes. Literally. The left eye hit the right eye of the Boss and all hell broke loose. Pandemonium ensued and calm was restored only when we could extinguish the fire. When the dust settled, Boss stood in the middle of the remnants of half-burnt paperwork and darkened furniture facing the shivering Ron, the ex-genius. This time Mr. B’s eyes were red hot without any supportive wires or coils from Ron.

He thundered, “Ronnnnn, you better explain.”

A pregnant pause. Pin drop silence. All eyes on Ron. . . .

All he did was open his mouth and the smoke came gushing, poor fellow, he has had the taste of his own fire. . . he looked a half-burnt Simpson!

It had its effect. . . you guessed right, peals of laughter! Tell you what, when the Boss is happy, everything is just fine. And so it was!

Remember the kids from the Home that we visited last time, buddies? I and Megan have become so fond of them that we make regular trips to the place. And the kids go crazy as always when we come to visit. I’ve become especially close to Lizzie, the doe-eyed one, who is mischievous to the point of outwitting me. Hmm…that should count to something.

Last weekend, Megan had other plans and I had to go alone. Why not take Rachel, my niece, I thought. Well, I was in a fix; I don’t know how to go about this one. Lizzie is an orphaned kid living in less privileged circumstances while Rachel is in another plane. As I drove with Rachel on my side, I thought of starting a conversation, but never managed the correct opening. It’s never easy being the Big Boy sometimes. The point is, I couldn’t just explain to her that she has to be nice to Lizzie and never comment about her lifestyle or lack of things…stuff and all that. We were already there and once I stepped on the grass, I heard the shriek first, yes, that’s a signal. The roller-coaster named Lizzie was on her skates and we were the target. She did meet us, but we could converse only lying down. Yes. She knocked the wind out of us, tripping us down. The naughty one! I look around for Rachel who was right now in a fetus position and before I could calm her and introduce them, they were already in shaking hands….err.. rather wrestling terms. They were rolling around trading punches. Ouch! Tiny fists do hurt. They were screaming as the fight has come to a stalemate both holding each other in a lock so none could move.

Disaster!

I stuttered to my feet, went around and put some distance between them.

They stared at each other and then Rachel went, “that’s an ugly one.”

I followed her eyes to the wound inflicted by Rachel on Lizzie’s arm. She immediately took Lizzie aside and led her to the running water by the corner. The fighter has gone caretaker in an instant and a few minutes later I could see them rolling on the grass again, but giggling this time.

Yes, Lizzie loved me, but for her Rachel is a gift. A friend! Yeah, I did make a difference or rather they made a difference to me. Kids! They just don’t watch the price tag on the dress, their eyes never look for the details. You see, as I should know, the devil is in the details!

Technically, she is not yet my mother-in-law. Yes, I’m talking about Aaliyah’s mom, but well when there is a day dedicated to mother-in-law you better make the most of it. Gift the mother-in-law something special, win her praise and rise a notch high in stature in your girl’s eyes! Double Whammy! Trust Bob to get things right. . . well, almost!

Now, the moment of Zen, it’s never easy to be with your girl when she shops, almost impossible to shop the right thing for your girl, and I swear to God there isn’t a guy in this world who can even think of a right present for his future mother-in-law. I just don’t know. Chocolates? No! She isn’t a girl. Dress? What?! I don’t even know what fits her. Flowers? Too simple.

When in doubt call your girlfriend.

“Bob, that’s so sweet of you…but don’t you think you should talk to me first?”

“Yeah, that’s why I called you. . . so what should I get her?”

“No, Bob, not that, it so happens that when I become your wife then she gets to be your mother-in-law”

“I know. . . Aaliyah, but we are sure of where we are going, right?” I let that one casually.

“Bob, there’s a dream and there are dream moments and for a girl, nothing betters than a guy going on his knees and popping the question with a ring. If you are serious, don’t ring me up with goofy questions, but go find a ring!”

Click.

She hit that one straight out of the park. Double Whammy? My foot!

Sure buds, wish your mother-in-law on Mother-In-Law’s Day, but those who are yet to decide on the nuptials just don’t look at the calendar!

Steve, the eternal pessimist, has a way to make everyone feel that Armageddon is near. He was in full form the other day our gang met up at my place. He was browsing channels and couldn’t help going, “The war, the attacks, everything. . . everything. . . tell you what Meggy, our days are numbered…we’re not secure. . . anything can happen anytime”

Sometimes words have their immediate effect. We all sat in silence and there was a gloomy mask on everybody’s face. Megan looked around and couldn’t take the damp silence.

She fired her salvo, “Listen up Steve, I’ll tell you something that I listened to. . . the view from my apartment was the World Trade Center! Now it’s gone. They attacked it. This symbol of… of American ingenuity and strength. . . and labor and imagination and commerce and it’s gone. But you know what the view is now? The The Statue of Liberty. The view from the south of Manhattan is the Statue of Liberty. You can’t beat that!” That’s a Jon Stewart quote. Yes, it’s a borrowed quote, but so what?”

“When the buildings fall they raise the dust. . . yes, it hurts to look at the dust, cry when it hurts, but once the dust settles down, look beyond it, you may see the Statue of Liberty. The Strength.”

Yes, I reiterate again, sometimes words do have their immediate effect. When there’s a collective rush of positive energy, it shows. The eyes lit up and there was a confident smile. Hats off to Megan and yes, to the lady with the torch!

Peace,

Bob
Editor, 123Greetings
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