"Normal, Mn. wants to secede---but they want a BAILOUT FIRST"----FICTION

Well it has been kinda sad. As I drove into Normal, Mn. last week, for the first time I noticed. For the first time I noticed. Normal, Mn. had been a town filled with pride, enthused with the upcoming fishing season, redneck proud of its Northern Pike Heritage Days, and had made it a regular custom to paint their older homes every 3 years or so, even if they didn't make any improvements.

Maybe it was just the setting sun, but for the first time I noticed that over the past two years or so, nobody has done a thing to paint or spruce up their homes---"these are tough times" I thought. "Folks are just hanging on."

It got even clearer over a few manhattens at the Hideaway Lounge that night---the guys were not only a little frustrated with their not keeping up with the painting, they were mad at not keeping up with everything else too---normally they had made it a custom in the fall to order the usual fleece firehose jeans and the matching work jackets that helped them make it through the winter---but not this year. This year they were makin do.

One of the more outspoken ones, Henry, spoke up:

"Shucks Wolfman (that's what they always called me) We'd like to secede from the Union. We're just sick n tired of bein sick and tired. But BEFORE we secede, we want to get a BAILOUT first. We just need to be debt free as a community in order to survive."

So there it is. I had headed up north to get away and relax and escape from those who wanted to secede, and lo and behold I landed smack dab in the middle of the same.

The more I thought of the bailout the more attractive it looked. And come to think of it, without some warm winter clothing this year, I can understand how these guys might want to secede. After all ya got to stay warm.