The Crown holds court

Dear Editor:Hear ye, hear ye. This is your court reporter from his cell high in the Tower of London two fortnights ago, the Crown held court for the multitudes in his modest castle. The royal message to the assembled peasants was, “Thou shall help me build a grand castle. It shall be large, tower above all, and sumptuous, such that the lords and ladies in surrounding lands will regularly join the Crown in festivities in his new and elegant surroundings.”The Privy Council and court jesters hailed his words and sang in praise, “Long live the Crown.” He then proclaimed that there would be “severe punishments if his will were not followed, including longer hours for all peasants in the fields, reduced portions from the royal harvest, and closure of the royal hunting grounds to all but knights and their ladies.”Ye olde court reporter, Jim Heywood, once of Towne of Snowmass, known in the olde days as a democracy.Jim HeywoodSnowmass Village