Morty Comix # 2510

 

Morty Comix # 2510 was a difficult one to place.

  

It really started in 2007 in Washington, DC. I was attending a librarian conference there that year.  I'm the one in the middle. The cats are Baker and Taylor, mascots for a book distributor.

  

In the bag of conference swag I collected at that event, this plastic sheet of Presidents of the United States was included. 

So now, several years later, this Prez gallery will help me select a new home for this issue of Morty Comix.  I placed it on the floor at the end of the hallway in front of a bulletin board.

 Above the whole scene is a painting by my Aunt Pat Pearson.

   

Then I brought out my bowl of spare pennies. My daughter made this bowl long ago when she was in school. 

 

I tossed the pennies at the bulletin until one of them bounced off and landed on the presidential visages.

It didn't take long.

 

Jackson, Van Buren, Harding, and Coolidge

  

I'm looking for counties. Since there is no such place as Coolidge County in the USA I was able to disqualify Silent Cal. So before rolling the dice I assigned numbers: Jackson 2, Van Buren 3, Harding 4. Within a few rolls Harding was the winner.

There are two Harding counties in the US, but only one is named after the President. Harding County, New Mexico has a population of less than 700. I wanted to find an address in the ghost town of Rosebud, given the fact I was co-author of the role playing mystery game, Riddle at Rosebud, which was set in New Mexico, but alas, ghosts don't have mailing addresses. At the time I cooked up that title I had no idea there really was a place once called Rosebud in the Land of Enchantment.

So what I settled on was sending the comic to a bar in Mosquero, the county seat.

And I must say I find it hard to believe Warren Harding actually has a county named after him. Incredible.

Riddle at Rosebud

Up here in the McCleary neighborhood the oldtimers called "Arkie Hill," there was a closeknit group of neighbors in the late 1990s who held frequent social gatherings including progressive dinners, potlucks, barbeques, etc.-- and role playing murder mystery games.

The boyfriend of one of our neighbors introduced us to these games, and we held several murder mystery parties using commercially produced products. My then-wife and I decided to write our own game, Riddle at Rosebud, inspired by the so-called "Roswell Incident" and the mysterious fate of our friend, Lynn Hansen.

We wrote this in late 1998. It was performed in real life only once, in my living room by 8 people on January 9, 1999. And it was a lot of fun.

I am unable to reproduce the accompanying cassette tape, or provide photos of the participants in costume, but they were something to behold.

Nowadays I am the only person left from that crowd still living on Arkie Hill. People move, die, get divorced, have surly talking frogs grow out of the top of their craniums. Life happens.

Jim Jarvis, who played Lon Odure, provided his own re-election poster and booze tickets!