Attribution: HarvestLife, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
By Bill Stokes
Kickass, the doorstop dog, acts with some ambiguity with the keeper and Phyllis as they absorb the National Geographic announcement that Madison has been named one of the “best cities in the world” to spend 2027.
On the one hand there will be an increase in the estimated 9.7 million visitors who last year spent some 1.6 billion dollars in the city. On the other hand, there will be increased risk for the keeper and Phyllis in being run over by some guy from Indiana rushing to buy a Spotted Cow beer which is available for sale only in Wisconsin.
Madison is periodically put on “best” or “great places” lists and the keeper always reacts with a certain smugness at having spent most of his life in the city. That circumstance was as calculated as accepting a job offer nearly 70 years ago from the Wisconsin State Journal that paid more than the $120 weekly salary the keeper was being paid in Stevens Point. From that point on down through the years there did not seem to be any good reason to pack up and leave Madison.
So, the keeper and Phyllis will ride it out with a distant view of the Capitol dome from their east window, Phyllis admiring the colorful autumn scene, and the keeper thinking of replenishing his supply of Spotted Cow.
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