Nancy Ozymandias

[James Brody]

One of the more enduring, deeper emotions is that of being cheated. That feeling not only angers, it also holds hands with moral indignation. "You cheated me you SOB..."

It was evening at Barnes & Nobel: A chiseled blonde, 40 years old, with a stack of books. She was dressed in black, wearing a black bracelet on her left forearm, and her beautiful hair cut to shoulder-length framed her northern features. A second blonde, 20 years younger and a bit chunky sat 30feet away. Number two was joined by a young man and the two of them had the room to themselves and they traded smiles and sunlight. I glanced back at number one: she glared at the couple for a half minute before going back to her books.

Suzanne, my photography competitor, also got a divorce. She's a stylish woman, also about 40, and had expensive cameras but now her studio is empty and she does her wash at the laundromat. She gained fifteen pounds since I saw her last. Instead of meeting my eyes, she clamped her jaw and stared at her shoes even though I wasn't the one who divorced her.

Joe: "That goddamn government is taking my grandchildren's money that I worked so hard to accumulate. Now I'm dying of pancreatic cancer and could go at any minute. For God's sake, do what you can when you go to Washington. It's for my grandkids...."

The man in Starbucks, black suit, black tie, and white shirt, used to market computers. Now he works for Macys and sells socks and underwear.

Mrs. Pelosi was unhappy when the Pentagon cancelled her new jets. She will not be a happy woman when her plans for Health Care also crash.