Chocolate & Wurst

You know things are bad when a small bank coyly titled “Main Street” collapses. It’s almost as if that maudlin flick A Wonderful Life is suddenly and forever no longer available for viewing.

You know things are bad when Laura Bush starts shopping for a new house in Big D, perhaps figuring the old shack in Crawford just won’t do. Crawford has gone steadily downhill with the decline of George W. No longer is it filled with SUV’s yearning to draw ever nearer the sacred ranch, and all but two shops hawking Bush trash are closed. Crawford had its 15 minutes of fame. A great article in the New Yorker magazine took a poke at the photo op moments of Bush whacking Texas brush in the heat of August, suggesting that no one in their right mind hacks brush in Texas in August. Except Bush who looks like he’s aged one hundred years since taking office.

You know things are bad when McCain chastises his crowds and suddenly begins describing Obama as a nice guy, a fine man, and whoa! Not an Arab, but a genuine American. You know things are bad when Palin sinks deeper into TrooperGate and Bill Clinton zips his lips, and GM’s Janesville plant is set to close.

You know things are good when you run across a grizzled ‘Nam vet who owns the Chocolate Tree on Old World Third St. He and the wife have put four daughters through college on the earnings from hawking sweets. They’re currently looking for a larger venue, a place where trucks can load and unload without getting ticketed while trying to run a business. Folks come in to his store complaining about their financial losses and leave with a bag of treats which allegedly gives them comfort. Usingers is north a few buildings, and things seem to be humming there as well. For them, the wurst has always been good.