The Bells Of New Year's

Once again the gunshots fired into the air at midnight awakened me to New Year's Day.
It seems to have taken a while, for when I looked at the clock, it was 12:15 AM, so there had been 15 minutes of gun fire required to ease me from my slumber. Must have been a pretty sound slumber. I supposed that even Armageddon would need at least 5 minutes to wake me.

You can hear gun shots from quite a distance, and the pop-pop-popping went on for a couple of hours.

The sound was guns. It always has been. This is not Chinese New Year, so it was not firecrackers.

She-who-must-be-obeyed told me that some officious do-gooder was urging the locals to ring bells instead of shooting guns. Ring in the New Year with a joyous tintinnabulation! Ring with bells gold and silver, brass and iron; make a cheerful noise unto the Lord with a tolling of bells!!!!!!!!!

I snorted in derision.

"Where does one buy a bell?" I asked.

"I don't think WalMart has a bell section. There are no local Mom and Pop bell stores downtown. Even if there were a school supply store nearby, they would only have bells if they also carried slates and hick'ry sticks. Maybe the teacher needs one, that is, if they still call her the School Marm,"  I continued.

She nodded in agreement.

"I'll bet you it is 10 times easier to buy a gun than it is to buy a bell!"

Ring in the New Year, indeed!

Snort!

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