This Ain’t No Joke…VOTE!

 

It should be a brief walk down the street to my elementary school to climb a few steps and walk into a decades old past. The tiled walls are the same. The tiny furniture is the same. The sound of footsteps on the floor brings back memories of lining up and walking down the hall to lunch like obedient children. 

Once passing through the platoon of bored national guard, then facial recognition by ICE and a quick patdown from RVA’s finest, I’m directed to the cafeteria to perform my civic duty. My ID passes the test of being a legal citizen. I'm verified to get a pen and a folder and a one-sided piece of paper with fill-in bubbles to select my preferences. Still surprised some uncontested names are on the ballot? I handed in my folder, name verification and pen and slid my ballot into the scanner. It is faster this year but don’t know why it sheds the results? I proudly slap on my ‘I voted’ sticker and walk down the old hallowed halls of my youth passing the portrait of Mary Munford and the fish tank Heather donated. I had a nice conversation with one of the greeters about the changes in the neighborhood from my time in this school when it was a small community of single family affordable houses to the mega-multi-million  monsters replacing them now.  Enjoying the sunshine and the cool fall day, I stroll down the sidewalk only to meet my backyard neighbor I’d not seen all summer. It is surprising how you don’t recognize someone outside their familiar surroundings. A brief chat and she goes into the process and I wander up the street. With no hurry and somewhat out of breath, I rocked on the porch enjoying the quiet and the fall leaves and my mission for today was done. 

A slow paced ride to the Tummy Temple to resupply for the week and make my way back to my routine at Puppywoods. The yard boss greets me ready for a lunch of blueberries. I post a picture of my acknowledged proof of voting on social media then wait for the numbers to be calculated and the results to be announced. If the numbers do not go the way of the commander in chief (I predict it won’t) he can rant and rave about the election being rigged or should be redone until the results please him.

Tomorrow I’ll awake to some other crisis or disaster but the day will be, as the weather people predict, PERFECT.