Monday, April 22, 2019

Flag Half Mast 1: The Day the Brownshirts Came To Town

The day the Brownshirts came to town, all us boys ran to watch them as soon as school let out. Some of the kids even snuck out early. We were all crazy about their uniforms and we loved the way they marched. They weren’t smiling but we could tell they were on our side, that they were the good guys. And they had guns, real guns, right out on display. Some of the kids knew what kind they were, like, “That’s a Luger,” or whatever. We all wanted to have guns like that. And the girls, they all giggled and waved at the Brownshirts who never waved back of course and we boys hated it, the girls just being dumb girls.

I stayed for some of the rally. It wasn’t that interesting and the music was stupid and there were lots of speeches, but we were happy to be there and see those guys with their uniforms and guns, When I got home little late for dinner and told them where I’d been. Grandma said, “Good for them! They’ll keep us safe.” Dad folded the paper he’d been reading and said, “It’s just trouble. Who needs all this trouble.”  Uncle Louie wasn’t at his place and I asked Mom where he was. “Oh,” she said. “Oh, well he had to go away for a little bit. He’ll be back in a while.” Uncle Louie was always doing weird things like that.

When I finished I asked to be excused. I wanted to run out and play with the guys. I said to Mom, “This is all for TV, right?  I mean, it’s not real is it?” Mom gave me a big hug, maybe a little bigger than I like, and she said, “Run out and play, just be back before it’s dark, OK?” and I went out to play Brownshirts with the guys.




Song: I Saw It On TV


Everyone cheered
Everyone hip-hoorayed
The pomp and pageantry
Yes, everyone cheered
The soldiers on parade
I saw it on TV

We watched them come
They brought us 
Comic books and chewing gum
We saw it on TV

They told us they’d build
A new glorious arch
And burn down the library
They told us each week
We’d have a glorious march
We’d see it on TV

We watched them come
They brought us 
Comic books and chewing gum
We saw it on TV

This must be
Reality
We saw it on TV

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