When you have a cold, sometimes it seems that there is nothing to do but endure. My neighbor, John, who lives close enough to hear me cough, has been observing me from a distance. Tonight he brought me a whole freakin’ gallon of elderberry wine. We are both amateur herbalists and know the antiviral properties of the wonderful elderberry plant. With appropriate grinning, I inquired as to the alcoholic content. His immediate reply was eighteen percent. I don’t know how he knows this, but I can just see him with his test tubes measuring who knows what.
He asked me if I had two glasses. I told him, no, I broke all the glasses last night in a fit of coughing. He didn’t believe me. So I got two glasses out of a special cabinet full of fine glass that he had sent to me, years earlier, when his first wife had died, while he was living in Colorado. That is another story, of course, and I will gladly tell it to you when you sit down with me to talk. Now he’s my neighbor, so it’s a good story.
Needless to say, we had a fine conversation, discussing all the current news, our sadness at the current news, various remedies for malicious gardening problems, and what the heck was wrong with the three biggies: your wife, your car, and your body. And he shared his ongoing prayer vigil for the boy that was injured three or four years ago in an accident in Monroe County, just to put the proper break on our frivolity.
After a couple of small glasses, he politely excused himself. We had our hugs and John went home to his waiting wife.
So, now, my cold doesn’t seem so bad. Maybe I’m fooling myself, and it will all kick in tomorrow morning, but I feel great. Having a friend visit when you are suffering is just aboutthe best thing that can happen to you. We have all been going through a lot of stuff lately, and probably the best thing you can do is go and share something with a friend. I can hardly lift this gallon jug. But I sure want another glass.
– Larry Berger. HashtagWV, September 2016
Check out Larry’s poems and stories and a full archive of Pseudo News articles at his blogsite:sinksgrovepress.wordpress.com
HASHTAGWV ART & ENTERTAINMENT Publisher/Editor-in-Chief, Christina Entenmann-Edwards has been a WV resident since September 2008. She was born and raised in Fairfield County, Connecticut, and is no stranger to hard work and the entrepreneurial spirit. In 2006, she graduated from Quinnipiac University (Hamden, Connecticut), Cum Laude, with a B.A. in History. In 2010, she graduated with an M.B.A. from Liberty University (Lynchburg, Virginia). In February 2012, Christina launched HashtagWV as the area’s first full-color, free arts and entertainment tabloid + online platform. Christina completed the Leadership West Virginia class of 2021, which is an innovative program that grows, engages, and mobilizes leaders to ignite a life passion to move West Virginia forward.