I awoke when, in the dream, the man appeared.  he was the local rep of the ruling party and the one to whom I must submit an appeal for shelters for immigrant families.

No wonder I awoke. I saw the man in his flesh incarnation yesterday on the market and, earlier, sitting at one of the local cafés bordering the market square. Physically, he looks like the Happy Budda’s evil twin. Or like an overgrown, pouty mamma’s boy – the kind who bullies smaller children at school but maman refuses to believe a word of it. He’s an active member of the ultra right-wing and has already inspired an unpleasant character in a previous piece of fiction of mine.

I suppose it’s a normal reaction to refuse the thought that the worst can happen. Except the worst happens anyway. Often.

Struggling with the story. Struggling in life. Uneasy balancing acts – lots of those. Occasional light-hearted moments. The gut feeling that nothing’s about to get easier.

At the bottom of the pile in the morning news : the brutal shutting down of Hungary’s largest left-leaning newspaper. Bought out by an Austrian firm, financial woes being the official reason for the overnight lock-out of the journalists and the closing of their email access.

Top of the line news centering, of course, on the unfolding Trump disaster. In Roman times, Emperor Caligula had nominated his horse to the Senate. Seems like the American Republican Party set itself up to do Caligula one better.

Story proceeds in its chaotic way through interruptions, sudden real-life arrivals of people in distress and somewhat incoherent phone calls about gendarmes and conjugal rifts, crying children…let’s see, where was I in the text?

The one and only bookstore in town opens this Thursday at six pm. We shall overcome? Unlikely but why would you stop trying? After all, what if the unspeakable that came to pass was of the Happy Budda variety, now and then. I know. Total shock to the nervous system. Addicted to bad news because it’s so much fun, as long as it doesn’t land on your doorstep.

Allez? Monday, and away we go with another push to get the stalled car rolling.