It's time to prop my foot onto the old gout stool once again and submit another point of view from my perch on the back porch of Sans Souci. Things have been a little bit tense around the royal residence here in Potsdam. It's a cold winter's day and der Alte Fritz has been rather cranky and irritable of late. It seems that Monsieur Voltaire, after a few too many brandies, had the nerve to criticize the King's flute playing after a recent performance. I believe that his exact words were, "you play your flute like a Mecklinburger!" And we all know that Mecklinburgers are notoriously poor flutists. Alte Fritz invited Monsieur Voltaire to spend the night in the royal gaol and made some pithy remark about how the hoosegow was the best of all possible worlds for Monsieur Voltaire.
But I digress. At any rate, I have to keep a wary eye out for the King as I lollygag in front of my computer. If I'm not careful, he will see me slacking off and put me on guard duty for the rest of the winter. His Highness gets restless when he is not on campaign, so I look forward to the opening of the Spring Campaign Season and its kick off at the annual Seven Years War Association Convention in South Bend this year.
More From The Veranda of Sans Souci
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© Copyright 1999 by James J. Mitchell
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