No quiz this week; just a little story...
“What does it say?”
“What does what say?”
“On the cup. The words
on the cup.”
“Oh. ‘Winner, First
City-Wide Dance Contest’”
“So it definitely says
‘winner’? Then we’ve got a problem.”
“Let’s go over this
carefully again. The whole point of this dance contest was that it would be
great publicity for Mabel Carswell, who as you know may be our next mayor. Her
daughter Stella was to win and the two of them, Mom and daughter, would be writ
up in our weekly Tribune and be seen holding the winner’s cup.”
“Right, and everyone
understood that.”
“Evidently not
everyone. Then, once the election was held, I was assured that I would be
appointed City Manager. But now someone has messed up and allowed somebody else
to win! You simply can’t depend on people anymore!”
“Well, it wasn’t that
they were allowed to win. That girl
Queenie Hasenlaufer and her partner were simply the best dancers.”
“What has that got to
do with it? My job – and yours, as far as that goes – depends on Mabel’s
daughter Stella winning that cup. Now, start thinking; how can we fix this?”
“Okay then, how about
this? Those cups only cost thirty-five bucks. We could buy another cup,
inscribe on it ‘Special Award’ or some such thing and give that to Queenie and
her partner. The winner’s cup would
then go to Stella and Mabel would be happy.”
“I don't mean to linger over this, but Stella didn’t win.
An unimportant point to us, but it’s of great interest to the residents of our
fair city. There’d be rioting in the
streets if they thought we were trying to pull something crooked.”
“Well, who let this
happen? Who were the judges? Don’t they know anything about politics? We spent
thousands of dollars putting this dance contest together for one reason, as
support for Mabel Carswell’s campaign, and we didn’t blow all that dough to
give an award to someone named Queenie!”
“Let alone someone
named Hasenlaufer.”
“That's Phil; he always has an impulse to say something. Thanks, Phil. You’ve
made your contribution. Now go sit over there.”
“Suppose we let it leak
out that someone has stolen the cup, since it is so valuable. So the dance
festival authorities, who are you and me by the way, have decided that the only
fair thing to do is to acquire another cup and award it to both Queenie and
Stella. They’ll be co-winners. Queenie will ultimately get the cup to keep and
Stella in the meantime gets her photo op, holding the dam’ thing with her Mom
for the local media.”
“You don’t know much
about Mabel Carswell, do you? The only thing that would mean anything to her
would for her daughter to win – which is what I guaranteed her would happen.
Way things are going, someone else is going to wind up as City Manager and I’ll
be back to convincing folks that they may be able to save fifteen percent on
their car insurance, like that little green rodent on TV.”
“Well, as far as I can
see, that ‘co-winner’ solution is all we’ve got. How about it, Phil? Have you
got anything else to suggest?”
“Well, in hauntingly tight
situations like this it was always encouraging for me when I remembered what my
Dad used to say: When the tough get going – or when you go getting tough –
something like that, whatever – but it was always encouraging.”
18 comments:
I don't know, but something about the characters sounds as if it could be "Guys and Dolls," which I've never seen. If I come up with anything better, I'll let you know.
Don't worry about it, natur'. It wasn't a quiz this week, just a little story.
if there's a contest somewhere one can find a conniver and schemer.....! Have a great week!
He.. sometimes not even corruption works right..
Bjorn, that should be a motto for today's politicians. :-)
Thanx, Cat-tails, for a much-appreciated comment.
Seems Mabel Palin got impaled on the horns of reality !
I do enjoy your stories ...
thanks for a nice tale; happy you dropped in to read mine
much love...
Life is complicated enough, then we make it more so!
ROG, ABCW
I'm here early this week! And no quiz...pffft...delightful story though...
Delightful comment, too - thanks.
It was again a fascinating story! How corrupt Mabel Carswell must be to allow this to happen. Such a mayor is not to be trusted.
Thanks for the amusing story!
Wil, ABCW Team
Ah yes, if not for our parents showing us the way! ALWAYS, Profound!
Folks have said some nice things about my little stories, but the word "profound" isn't usually used.:-) Thanx.
Wonderful story
This is a funny one, Berowne! You know me, I love my politics... and the whole familial intrigue here was fun. Hmm, there is a bit of Hillary and Chelsea afoot. Oh, and the guy called the gecko a rodent, which is funny. Amy
This puts to mind Pilate's question "What is truth?". When society is corrupt the answer is "It doesn't matter".
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