By Charlotte K. Jarmy
Reflections
“June is busting out all over!” That wonderful song from “Carousel” really sets the tone for the beginning of a long, lazy summer. Roses, petunias and impatiens charm us from every garden. Our first heat wave came early this month as it often does, just as students are taking finals and signing yearbooks. That’s the way it is -,whom am I kidding?
We are in a war of nerves with warnings of future terror attacks and devastating news from the Middle East as well as threats of nuclear holocaust between India and Pakistan. It is difficult to be calm, to read the papers and listen to political analysts who seem to thrive on reports of terror. I suspect that deep down we truly believe that no country could be so stupid as to start the unbelievable consequences of nuclear weapons. So we shake our heads and go about our day, shopping at the malls, planning summer vacations and complaining about rising gas prices.
Commerce continues unabated. There are full page ads for summer clothes, beach balls and expensive barbecue equipment. Cute little kids romp around in colorful bathing suits and Macy’s heralds Father’s Day weeks before the event. Do we believe our Sunday morning talking heads or do we bask in the sunshine and tell ourselves, “Nah, it’s too beautiful a day for any more attacks?” Does the stock market know something I don’t know? Am I scared? Often.
Who is taking care of us? The FBI and the CIA admit they have made some serious mistakes. President Bush wants to start all over to create a new giant organization where department heads actually talk to each other. I mourned again when New Yorkers watched the last piece of building material taken away in funereal silence from Ground Zero.
Meanwhile our favorite television programs have slipped out of town till September or, like “Ally McBeal,” have walked off into the mist forever.
Howard and I have finally succumbed to the lure of the video stores, but I have to admit that I snoozed through much of “Harry Potter.” I am reading three books at the same time, forgetting where I stopped reading in each. Mostly we play 500 Rummy, a game I am becoming obsessive about, mainly because out of 50 or so games I have only won one. Howard worries that we will ruin our marriage, so I almost always smile and forgive him. Warring nations can learn a lot from our “discussions.”
We are making no plans for a cruise or a leisurely train ride that we both long to try. The possibility of back surgery keeps all plans on the back burner. I would happily sacrifice wondrous vacation plans if we could just open our newspaper and see a headline that proclaims, PEACE IN THE MIDDLE EAST. What a glorious Fourth of July we would have.
Charlotte K. Jarmy , a Los Altos resident, is a longtime free-lance writer for the Town Crier. Her column runs the third week of the month.
