Photo by Bill Stokes
By Bill Stokes
Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports that the keeper did a little turn-back-the-clock number with the kind help of friends Ken and Joel with a lunch gathering of current “has-beens,” a group that has been in existence since before Pat Lucy left Wisconsin to become ambassador to Mexico.
The occasion, at Joel’s beautiful place on Lake Mendota, quickly made the point that nothing stays the same, certainly not the keeper’s old Friday lunch group when the likes of reporters Harvey Bruescher and Neal Shivley and Sam and Cliff and Frank, and such political heavyweights as Earl and Krause and Hassett and other notables were regulars at the Friday Portabella gatherings. They are all gone, along with many others, and those who remain like Scott and Harry and Hal and Eunice and Tom have all aged like good old pets.
The group of has-beens now displays a much healthier gender ratio with women speaking up on the usual politics of the day with obvious left leanings.
Another striking difference between the old and the current has-been assembly is the absence of reporters at the recent gathering:
the keeper was the only one there with a traditional media connection and his is, of course, frayed onto being useless.
“Where have all the reporters gone?
Long time passing.
Where have all the reporters gone?
Long time ago…….”
The keeper qualifies as a has-been by many measurements and informs Phyllis that he has become as rare as a Hawaiian goose and expects special treatment.
Thank you to Ken and Joel and all the has-beens for a great lunch!
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