The Pontificators

I’ve decided it’s Russia’s turn to be a stable country. Every country has had its ups and downs, of course, but Russia, I believe, has paid her dues. If countries were people, then England and the U.S. would be sitting at home watching the ball game, France would be absorbed in clipping her toe nails and ordering items off the Home Shopping Network, while Russia would be stuck in line at the DMV wondering if she was going to get her car registration renewed sometime this century.

The United States fought its way to the front of that line and paid the fee some time ago, with England moseying along behind. France tried to cut ahead by slipping some money to one of the clerks, but Russia somehow is still waiting.

She would be willing, at this point, to slip the clerk some money just to be able to go home and maybe catch the last 30 seconds of the ball game, but that requires actually having some cash to slip. Russia had some green, at one point, but her cheating, no-good husbands abandoned her and the kids, who need school clothes, and schools. Russia has had time, standing in line all these years, to think about the sweet-talking fellows who charmed her, wooed her, married her, then stripped her clean, leaving her with no money and who knows how many mouths to feed. She scowls with regret and anger, tapping her foot with increasing impatience as she gets jostled by Chechnya from behind, and jostles back.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 18th, 2009 at 6:01 am and is filed under Essay, Naomi. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.