NINE TIMES FROM SUNDAY

NINE TIMES FROM SUNDAY ...
By Mary Moffett Paula LaRue

When word reaches Heaven that the world is indeed a terrible mess, eventually this complaint need be rectified.  Thus, from on high there came to pass a series of nine days which changed the world.  Starting in the USA, corrections paramount to salvation, utterly mandatory, justifiable and without mercy sweep the nation like wildfire.

The first item to go is the Internet. The foreseeable demise of on-line status never affects those who were not party to email, electronic banking privilege, e-publishing, e-shopping, etc. Nary but 400,000 keyboard texters awoke to not a smidgen of web access. They couldn't communicate with their carriers, their pals, nor customers whose names they filed in "favorites" from Augusta, Maine to Spokane, Washington. In the throes of deliberate desperation, they turn first to television stations.  Where, flabbergasted anchor women blanch wildly inept explaining the crash, their faces fluttering upon print-less silver screens.

This is the first thing denied a population which tallies 307 million citizens. Yes, the Internet dims kaput on the first day, Sunday, October 11, 2009, a portentous rendezvous to the Nine Days That Changed the World.

One child, an advocate of pen & ink, steps away from her keyboard, smiles at a classroom filled with computers, declaring she'll write to the President about this.  The teacher searches desperately for loose-leaf paper, finds nary a scrap since email defines these modern days of instant messaging.

On the second day of the Nine Days That Changed the World, people in Cincinnati wake up to no television.  This quickly spreads in the blink of an eye.  By noon engulfing the entire lower forty-eight. Radio networks do their best to determine a cause for the burst bubble of visual airways. Rushglib, whose questionable muckraking opinions were previously spiced with innuendo, announces a "government conspiracy" at play. As per usual, most listeners tune him out. Not that the evening broadcast would be sorely missed. Au contraire.  People experience a lightness of mind, call it a night throughout the land, take to an early bedtime.

On the third day of The Nine Days That Changed the World, there's not a sound from a single radio inside a residence nor from a car dashboard. The world Norte Americana cherishes slips into a vortex spelling cyberspace oblivion for half the population. The other half was not on-line, lowest of the low, out of the loop? Never! Perhaps satisfied stalemates of the printed word. "Good luck finding it," they'll tell you, "Guvmint's closing our libraries." Yet, when Marconi's mad folly closes tighter than a guitar case in Albany ... absence of tunes causes an uproar far & wide, from Altoona to Detroit to Memphis to Atlanta to L.A.

On the fourth day of the Nine Days That Changed the World forever, airports close tall gates. Jets in the air land without mishap, never rising into horizon's gorgeous skylines again.

Again, from on High, in the friendly skies of Heaven ... it appears only fair to eradicate telephones completely. Folks jump about holding useless plastic in their palms, toss those on the ground, speechless at last. For the first time in months they glance at passers-by in a crowd of forlorn, meandering mankind. For some it's ages since they greet anyone. So adept has cell phone economy bolstered adroit snobbery. Land phones were down as well. This absolute lack of means for communication builds to become a thing to be reckoned with, without a doubt.

The Fifth Day during the Nine Day Change rebukes superficial mass doses of earmarked modus operandi, centering on transportation once more. Targeting the combustible, gasoline engine which takes a major dive. Interstate traffic stalls to a full, gradual stop on the Eastern Seaboard. Later, within closing hours of midnight not a single car moves stealthily along any deserted streets. No semi's loud roar, no news media barking repetitious cant. Nothing.

By the Sixth Day of the Nine Days that Changed Life in the USA, civilians barricade themselves inside their homes. Their trite castle doors locked tight against another onslaught of detailed destruction surrounding all & sundry. Many a brave soul beats it to the corner, grabbing a newspaper, then splits for a nearby porch. Here, people gather, introducing themselves to neighbors. Verbal sharing ensues coast to coast.  In many places, entire populations actually enjoy descending silence.

As is to be expected, God in all His Glory, rests on the Seventh Day.

Meantime, thinking the country under attack from an unknown enemy, state governors release National Guard Troops to every major, metropolis. Citizens with online addictions take it the worst.  Their voices freeze simply speaking to interested spectators.  Opinions once shared by Internet bloggers, to each his own keypad, often trite and misleading send PC buffs into fits of woe. 

While everyone fears worse from a so-called, unknown assailant, senators in Congress can't tell anyone a darn thing, claiming ignorance. In short, they've nary a clue. All, to a man unprepared for magical, physical demise effecting Wall Street.  Where once stood tall buildings, immediately, conglomerate banking giants like AIG ... simply vanish. Yes, the center of financial commerce in New York City, now shows vacant sidewalks bordering empty windswept acres in pricey Manhattan real estate ventures. Ahh, well. Easy come, easy go ... some said. Others wept crocodile tears, feigning anger. The rich drafted bills for aiding their plight.

Of course, sinful aspects of money as the root of all evil, also wipes from the face of the Earth, each copper/paper mill mint within the USA, including Fort Knox.

Now, powers of persuasion from the wealthy fat cats invokes "the darkest time in American History as we know it," rant some. Thankfully, nobody's listening. There's but one thing left which people take for granted for decades, overused and flaunted as a means of affluence.

Thus on the Ninth Day, the Lord above smites the heathen below, each to his own merit, innocent or not.

Sure, God pulls the plug for the final day of the Nine Days That Changed the Whole World. No more electricity! Not a single watt enters one household. Whether or not chaos shall reign fathomless is not the purpose of this epistle, my friends. Just like low down, mean temperatures during blizzards past, or sultry southern hurricane aftermaths there need be tons of very important things to address. First up: how does one cook, sear, broil, roast a freezer stash filled with vittles? Ah well, start the barbeque, boys!  Call the neighbors over.  This aint the end of the world. Hell no, it's party time!

Postscript:
Thus concludes Nine Days That Changed the World as we once knew it.  Perhaps we must not wallow in waste which purports any destruction nor senseless desecration of the most precious gift we already claim, our's globally to care for and cherish. The very planet we live upon.  When the silence came, everyone loves it from morning to night, and nine times on Sunday.  Oh, you better believe it since truth is around every corner, along each forest edge and may be visiting you and yours someday soon. Since one may recognize an applicable ancient biblical --- Quote: "Vengeance is mine, sayeth the Lord."

Hey, Consumer, beware!
The END

words 1220, theme: winning/losing