olympics

I like the Olympics. I really do but sometimes they go overboard with the heart tugging. Last week Sidney was on life support with a ski wedged in his ear and tonight he goes for the gold in the down hill event. The commentator asks if the ski still wedged in his ear will throw off his balance. Every year the same formula is used to draw the couch potatoes into drama. Personally, emotional couch potatoes scare me. Lethargy provides a certain comfort. Anyway ages ago I wrote and threw away a story about a Polish speed skater who loved to race but came from a dirt poor country. I made him Polish because I'm half Polish and it didn't seem so reprehensible. I don't God is going to the see the logic of that argument. I'm hoping he has an off day when he calls me to account.
So my skater, Ziggy, in this story needs to supplement his Olympic stipend by continuing his plumber profession. He misses some practices unclogging toilets and from have too many beers. His skating costume has some holes in it --some in embarrassing places but Ziggy loves to skate. Oh, and one more impediment to a gold medal, Ziggy has an artificial leg-a cheap poorly made leg made in Bangladesh. Of course this makes for a fantastic human interest story. More later--off to work--the race is next