Today is Wednesday, the 14th of August 2024.
Last night - and, yes my dear llama, it is me, Bromford, the Bibble, and I am breaking the fourth wall again to explain some changes that are to come in the city-song-quiz in this blockblog of mine every eight days a week - last night I was sitting in a Greek Italian restaurant with Chinese food Mexican style when suddenly a living squid in a tank spoke to me.
A squid is an octopus-like sea animal with ten arms who usually was not speaking to restaurant customers but made an exception to the rule that night.
You don't have to explain to your readers what a squid is, said the squid, they all have watched Squid Games on Threatfix.
And he does not have readers, the llama added in my head.
I am speaking to you, the squid continued, because I noticed that there are two songs in the city-song-quiz today and I sensed that you wanted to explain it.
I like to finish what I started, I said.
He does not, the llama added in my head, or maybe he does. Who knows and who cares?
There are so many songs and I want to bring them all, I continued., but it would take us all too long if I brought them only one by one every eight days. I don't want to do the exact maths but it would take ten years or more to finish what I started. And who has got all that time in the world?
I certainly do not have all the time in the world, the squid said sobbing. I am number 42 on today's menue of this Greek Italian restaurant with Chinese food Mexican style. But I also feel that today's cities need some explanation from your side.
To be honest, animal, I said.
Which animal do you mean?, I heard the llama ask in my head. Me or the octopus-like animal with too many arms?
To be honest, animals in and outside my head, I said, I didn't even remember what or where the cities of today's quiz were and why I added them to the list of city-song-quiz cities.
Hurry, human, said the squid, I can feel the cook watching me through the bull's eye of the kitchen swing door.
And while I tried to remember whether I ever had squid for diner and whether I liked it or not, I explained, the first city is a former town in Day County, South Dakota, United States of America. The population was 4 at the 2010 census. The town was dissolved in March 2017 by the Day County court due to the population reaching zero.
Not a real place, not a real place, la la la la la, the llama sang in my head.
And the second one can be found all over the world, I think.
And just for the happy-ending I ordered the number 42 on the menue, bought the tank as a mobile home and took the squid in it back home to my penthouse apartment above the 15th floor of the building on 666 Whitaker Lane in Bromford, the friendly town by the bay and seaside.
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"Bromford, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts"
The festival was over, the boys were all plannin′ for a fall
The cabaret was quiet except for the drillin' in the wall
The curfew had been lifted and the gamblin′ wheel shut down
Anyone who had any sense had already left town
He was standin' in the doorway lookin' like the Jack of Hearts
He moved across the mirrored room, "Set it up for everyone," he said
Then everyone commenced to do what they were doin′ before he turned their heads
Then he walked up to a stranger and he asked him with a grin
"Could you kindly tell me, friend, what time the show begins?"
Then he moved into the corner, face down like the Jack of Hearts
Backstage the girls were playin′ five-card stud by the stairs
Bromford had two queens, she was hopin' for a third to match her pair
Outside the streets were fillin′ up, the window was open wide
A gentle breeze was blowin', you could feel it from inside
Bromford called another bet and drew up the Jack of Hearts
Big Jim was no one′s fool, he owned the town's only diamond mine
He made his usual entrance lookin′ so dandy and so fine
With his bodyguards and silver cane and every hair in place
He took whatever he wanted to and he laid it all to waste
But his bodyguards and silver cane were no match for the Jack of Hearts
Rosemary combed her hair and took a carriage into town
She slipped in through the side door lookin' like a queen without a crown
She fluttered her false eyelashes and whispered in his ear
"Sorry, darlin', that I′m late," but he didn′t seem to hear
He was starin' into space over at the Jack of Hearts
"I know I′ve seen that face somewhere," Big Jim was thinkin' to himself
"Maybe down in Mexico or a picture up on somebody′s shelf."
But then the crowd began to stamp their feet and the house lights did dim
And in the darkness of the room there was only Jim and him
Starin' at the butterfly who just drew the Jack of Hearts
Bromford was a princess, she was fair-skinned and precious as a child
She did whatever she had to do, she had that certain flash every time she smiled
She had come away from a broken home, had lots of strange affairs
With men in every walk of life which took her everywhere
But she′d never met anyone quite like the Jack of Hearts
The hangin' judge came in unnoticed and was being wined and dined
The drillin' in the wall kept up but no one seemed to pay it any mind
It was known all around that Bromford had Jim′s ring
And nothing would ever come between Bromford and the king
No, nothin′ ever would except maybe the Jack of Hearts
Rosemary started drinkin' hard and seein′ her reflection in the knife
She was tired of the attention, tired of playin' the role of Big Jim′s wife
She had done a lot of bad things, even once tried suicide
Was lookin' to do just one good deed before she died
She was gazin′ to the future, riding on the Jack of Hearts
Bromford took her dress off and buried it away
"Has your luck run out?" she laughed at him, "Well, I guess you must
Have known it would someday
Be careful not to touch the wall, there's a brand-new coat of paint
I'm glad to see you′re still alive, you′re lookin' like a saint."
Down the hallway footsteps were comin′ for the Jack of Hearts
The backstage manager was pacing all around by his chair
"There's something funny going on," he said, "I can just feel it in the air."
He went to get the hangin′ judge, but the hangin' judge was drunk
As the leading actor hurried by in the costume of a monk
There was no actor anywhere better than the Jack of Hearts
No one knew the circumstance but they say that it happened pretty quick
The door to the dressing room burst open and a Colt revolver clicked
And Big Jim was standin′ there, ya couldn't say surprised
Rosemary right beside him, steady in her eyes
She was with Big Jim but she was leanin' to the Jack of Hearts
Two doors down the boys finally made it through the wall
And cleaned out the bank safe, it′s said they got off with quite a haul
In the darkness by the riverbed they waited on the ground
For one more member who had business back in town
But they couldn′t go no further without the Jack of Hearts
The next day was hangin' day, the sky was overcast and black
Big Jim lay covered up, killed by a penknife in the back
And Rosemary on the gallows, she didn′t even blink
The hangin' judge was sober, he hadn′t had a drink
The only person on the scene missin' was the Jack of Hearts
The cabaret was empty now, a sign said, "Closed for repair,"
Bromford had already taken all of the dye out of her hair
She was thinkin′ 'bout her father, who she very rarely saw
Thinkin' ′bout Rosemary and thinkin′ about the law
But, most of all she was thinkin' ′bout the Jack of Hearts
"Bromford Takes Us Outside"
Valentines Day, 25, June, 16th, Wednesday, July 6th, 20, 0, 20, 15,
Martin Luther King Day, June 18th, June 6th, Wednesday,
August 18th, 9th, 1999, 12, Nicholas, August, Wednesday, 13th, Sunday, 5th,
March, October, January, October 13th,
Wednesday, Martin Luther King Day, afternoon, in view of nothing, 20, 0, 1,
Late winter, Martin Luther King Day, 12, 16,
August, Wednesday, 13th, Friday, 7, June.
