In all the ways you can,
In all the places you can,
At all the times you can,
To all the people you can,
As long as ever you can.”
Okay. I think I finally know how Ceepak became Ceepak. He inherited it from his Great Aunt Jennifer.
“That’s a quote from John Wesley,” says Mrs. Ceepak. “He wasn’t a Catholic but, still, it’s a good prayer.”
“Yes, ma’am,” says Ceepak.
“So you’ll call this Harvey Nussbaum for Christine?”
“Danny and I will pay Ms. Lemonopolous a visit tomorrow. We will advise her of your generous offer and see if that is how she would like to proceed.”
“Good. Now eat your spaghetti before your meatballs get cold.”
And, once again, Ceepak and I both do like his mother says.
If I ever needle point a sampler to hang on my wall, I think it’ll be these lyrics from Bruce Springsteen’s “The Ghost Of Tom Joad”:
Wherever there’s somebody fightin’ for a place to stand
Or a decent job or a helpin’ hand
Wherever somebody’s strugglin’ to be free
Look in their eyes Mom you’ll see me.
From the live version, of course-the one with Tom Morello from Rage Against The Machine wailing on the fuzz-box electric guitar solos; not Bruce’s original acoustic version off the Nebraska album.
So, first thing Saturday morning, I text Christine to let her know Ceepak and I want to swing by and talk with her about the TRO, maybe even lend her a “helpin’ hand.”
“DO YOU GUYS NEED A COPY?” she texts back.
“COULDN’T HURT,” I thumb to her.
“OK. C U IN A FEW.”