{"id":793,"date":"2010-12-22T08:15:21","date_gmt":"2010-12-22T15:15:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/?p=793"},"modified":"2010-12-22T08:12:32","modified_gmt":"2010-12-22T15:12:32","slug":"christmas-story-a-future-more-vivid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/793\/christmas-story-a-future-more-vivid\/","title":{"rendered":"A future more vivid"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Willie story<\/i><\/p>\n

“Salve, caudex,” the big little boy said to his father.<\/p>\n

“Salve, caudex,” the father replied.<\/p>\n

The boy turned to me, a stranger, and said, “Salve, caudex.” I smiled at him and he confided, “That means, ‘Hello, blockhead’.”<\/p>\n

We were sharing a bench at the mall, as one must at Christmas. When I had sat down it was just the father and me at opposite ends of the bench. But then the big little boy — too young to be big, too tall to be little — had come bounding out of the toy store across the way.<\/p>\n

He was his father in miniature, seven or eight years old but very tall, very lean. His hair was brown and a little shaggy and his eyes were gray and very bright. He had his father’s large hands and long fingers, and it won’t be long before he has his father’s prominent proboscis. He walked fast and talked fast and he moved his body with a blinding abruptness.<\/p>\n

“You like it, don’t you?” his father asked.<\/p>\n

“Boy, do I! I think that’s the best video game system ever! That’s<\/i> what I want for Christmas!”<\/p>\n

“How interesting.”<\/p>\n

The boy spun to me and said, “That means, ‘I don’t care’.”<\/p>\n

I said: “I’m sorry?”<\/p>\n

“When he says ‘how interesting’, it means he doesn’t care.”<\/p>\n

“What it means,” said the father, including me, I think, because he felt he had to, “is that you have said nothing to motivate me to act. You haven’t asked for anything, and you haven’t given me any reason why I should honor your request in any case.”<\/p>\n

“It means he doesn’t care.”<\/p>\n

“Attend me, sir,” the father said.<\/p>\n

“That means, ‘Listen up’.”<\/p>\n

“Attend<\/i> me, sir. I think you’re right. I think it is the best video game system ever. At least the best so far. Have I told you lately how much I despise video games?”<\/p>\n

“He hates video games,” the boy confessed.<\/p>\n

“I hate video games,” the father confirmed — to the boy, not to me. “And yet you love them. And a Christmas gift should be what you love, not what I love — what you love, even if I hate it. Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Willie story “Salve, caudex,” the big little boy said to his father. “Salve, caudex,” the father replied. The boy turned to me, a stranger, and said, “Salve, caudex.” I smiled at him and he confided, “That means, ‘Hello, blockhead’.” We were sharing a bench at the mall, as one must at Christmas. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,24],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-793","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"hentry","6":"category-casual-friday","7":"category-egoism-in-action","9":"no-featured-image"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":18304,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/18304\/overnight-news-shouting-freedom-and-other-anti-government-slogans-cuba-makes-a-run-for-the-libre\/","url_meta":{"origin":793,"position":0},"title":"Overnight News: \u201cShouting \u2018Freedom\u2019 and other anti-government slogans,\u201d Cuba makes a run for the libre.","author":"Greg Swann","date":"July 12, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday in Cuba people were doing the work Americans won't: Fighting for their freedom. The New York Times is correct in describing this conduct as 'anti-government' \u2013 just as the January 6th protests were anti-THIS-government. In both countries, the protesters love their country but hate its predatory salve-masters. The difference?\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Group Therapy"","block_context":{"text":"Group Therapy","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/group-therapy\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Ya think it's easy?","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/BHBNewTopImage-300x225.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":18245,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/18245\/overnight-news-not-everyone-is-lucky-enough-to-have-a-good-father-but-each-one-us-is-father-to-the-person-we-would-become\/","url_meta":{"origin":793,"position":1},"title":"Overnight News: Not everyone is lucky enough to have a good father, but each one us is father to the person we would\u00a0become.","author":"Greg Swann","date":"June 20, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Ramblin\u2019 Gamblin\u2019 Willie has a new story for Father's Day, and this of course is a theme Willie pounds on, anyway. Today's story is particularly horrifying, but the peroration, summarized in the headline above, is what Willie offers up by way of redemption. And he's right, of course \u2013 and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Real Estate"","block_context":{"text":"Real Estate","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/real-estate\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Ya think it's easy?","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/BHBNewTopImage-300x225.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":15290,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/15290\/on-the-education-of-an-11-year-old\/","url_meta":{"origin":793,"position":2},"title":"On the Education of an 11 Year Old…","author":"Sean Purcell","date":"November 8, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"REWIND: Roughly one month ago, an 11 year old boy was in an altercation during recess. A classmate, known for his \"unorthodox\" playing style, decided to\u00a0turn and throw a ball into his face from nearly point-blank range. This \"unorthodox\"\u00a0classmate apparently thought it was very funny, and as the boy got\u00a0up\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Big Mother"","block_context":{"text":"Big Mother","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/big-mother\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1496,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/1496\/realtors-should-stop-selling-houses\/","url_meta":{"origin":793,"position":3},"title":"Realtors Should Stop Selling Houses…","author":"Brian Brady","date":"June 2, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"...and start making memories. Realtors are the gatekeepers of memories. They unlock the potential of participatory drama. They insert the would be homeowner into a chapter of a history book. They beg the buyer to paint the blank canvas in unique colors. Realtors are the stewards of the time-honored American\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Real Estate"","block_context":{"text":"Real Estate","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/real-estate\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6944,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/6944\/pin-money\/","url_meta":{"origin":793,"position":4},"title":"Pin Money","author":"Geno Petro","date":"February 18, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"1960 \"Genie... here's a quarter. Now run down to the corner and get me a Hershey's from the store.\u00a0 You keep the extra coppers for pin money.\u00a0 Don't tell Big Gene.\" My father's mother was sneakier than any of her twenty-one grandchildren when it came to copping a candy fix\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Real Estate"","block_context":{"text":"Real Estate","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/real-estate\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":18214,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/18214\/overnight-news-great-completely-obvious-news-self-control-is-learned\/","url_meta":{"origin":793,"position":5},"title":"Overnight News: Great (completely obvious) news: Self-control is learned.","author":"Greg Swann","date":"June 8, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"America has always been a Calvinist nation, and remaining one has been a hard stunt for the Ruling Class: What does a post-Calvinistic atheist do to get ahead? Or: Rather: To demonstrate having gotten ahead, since the Calvinist work ethic is more about competition than work itself. As with Marxism,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Group Therapy"","block_context":{"text":"Group Therapy","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/group-therapy\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Ya think it's easy?","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/BHBNewTopImage-300x225.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/793","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=793"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/793\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13825,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/793\/revisions\/13825"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=793"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=793"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=793"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}