Wandering - or wobbling - into politics

 Wandering – or wobbling – into politics 

It is something we seldom do, politics – I seldom do it, but
       Sometimes he just does this, Nils, Axel Sundstrøm’s brother – he shows up at the front door because he wants to rail at someone and he knows I am home. True, he’s wearing his mask (Democratic blue), and he does ask if he can come in, but he also knows I won’t say “no.”
     Today, he wants to talk about Wyoming. “How about,” he says, “we dismiss it. As a state. We oust Wyoming from the Union.
     “Look at the advantages,” he says. “Two Senate seats, three electoral college votes.
     “We can have a resettlement plan for the sixteen or so liberals that want to leave; it will cost very, very little, less than we return to the state in a year. In taxes.”

I ask him if he’d like a cup of coffee or tea.
     “What kind of tea?” he says. “Do you have any of that Russian tea Roz makes?”
     “I make it,” I say. “Yes.”
     “Some of that, then. You make it?”

Nils Sundstrøm by Bel Monk
(mask by m ball)

He follows me into the kitchen and sits at the table. He watches while I put the kettle on and measure a tablespoonful into each mug. I sit down while I wait for the kettle to sing.
     “You can take off your mask,” I say. He does, scratches at his beard. “Aaah,” he says.

The kettle whistles. I pour the boiling water into the cups, which begin to smell like oranges.
     “It’s hot,” I say, putting one cup in front of Nils and sitting down behind the other. “I’m not sure how you dismiss a state,” I say. “But, Wyoming,” I say.
     “Yes.”
     “It’s in the middle of Montana, Idaho, Utah, Colorado, and Nebraska.”
     “Yes, I guess it is.”
     “How about the Dakotas?” I say. “Only between Minnesota and Montana, more or less. Four Senate seats and six electors.”
     “Hmmm,” Nils says.
     “Plus, we get rid of Mt. Rushmore,” I say.

It’s good, the “tea” that I make with instant lemon tea and Tang and cinnamon and cloves. Plebeian, maybe, but good.
                                                                       02.01.22