La Mano Nera

It was a morning like all mornings. At least I thought so until I started opening blinds hoping that the sun would see fit to make its presence known. I dutifully opened the back patio sliding door blinds and there it was - a black hand! No doubt about it. A black hand was ominously lying on my patio. I had heard of the The Black Hand during my childhood days. I can remember the adults mentioning La Mano Nera in hushed tones as they discussed the news about the latest violence in the neighborhood. The Black Hand symbol was an ominous message of physical harm to come if an extortion demand was not met.

Whoa! I never received any extortion demand so what the hell was a black hand doing on my patio. Was it merely a warning? A warning about what? I lead a relatively quiet life. Who could I have possibly offended? My God, I forgot about my blog! It’s full of rants and pointed comments on individuals and organizations.

 I’ve bad mouthed the Home Owners Association or more accurately certain individuals representing the Association. Would they have the balls to threaten me? Not really, I’m sure they have no balls or they would have had the courtesy of discussing the placement of my bird feeder  with me before forcing me to take it down (Tony's Finch Diner Ordered Shutdown by Homeowners Association). Just for the record I‘m back in business with a Finch Diner - all legal.

 More recently I’ve not been very kind about Obamacare. Scratch Obamacare from the list of persons of interest. They have enough to occupy themselves with, besides threatening an unknown blogger. I’m at my wit's end ( now there’s a cliché I ought to write about someday).

( brief pause while I see who is at the front door)

Mystery solved. That was the landscaper asking permission to retrieve his lost glove. He was sure he dropped it on my back patio.

As I watched him retrieve the black glove, I noticed a bulge under his sweatshirt. Gun? A change of mind? Lesson learned - blogging can be dangerous for your health.