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HERE: Been a hard long day or a really good day. You pull up in your beater pickup and find a place to park that's not too boggy and doesn't block anybody elses' ride. Scrape most of the mud, grease or cow +@@@ off your boots on a rock to the side of the porch before you push open the front door and enter. Everybody looks up, grins & nods and says "Hey" and maybe somebody waves you over to chew the fat. The guy behind the bar knows your favorite and has it ready before you get to him. The room is warm and friendly, the furniture banged up and totally comfortable, the friends and affection as well as the respect are real. No bar fights inside and serious disagreements get resolved between the disputants alone and outside and once settled the combatants step back in and buy each other a round.

THERE: One approaches The Club by driving up a long winding graveled drive lined by stately and majestic English Walnut trees backed by mowed pasture. At the gated entry the security staff confirms your identity and either waves you through to the valet parking area or indicates with a nod of his chin the turn to the public parking lot behind the maintenance buildings. Before exiting your vehicle you check that your tie is straight one last time, pop a breath mint and make your entrance. Conversation creates a muted hum in the background as you enter the foyer. A few faces might turn briefly in your direction then away. You have been a member of The Club for less than a month but your place on the social ladder has already been determined. After all, breeding does tell. Old School, Old Money, Old Family, Maintenance of the Status Quo........those are the unwritten bylaws well understood and enforced with an intensity of focus honed over a dozen generations. A ripple in the fabric of this society is unacceptable and any perceived variance in the warp or weft is quietly excised and the gap created sewn tightly shut to erase any appearance of disruption of a garment obviously tailored by order of a higher being.

Now where in Hell did I sit my shotglass of Barbados rum? Guess I gotta' go pour me another. You guys watch my seat for me but if a lady or an older gentleman walks in I'll be proud to just stand.

addendum 3/7: Posted as tongue-in-cheek "Epitome of Hyperbole". Clark's has been a tremendous source of learning for me. I have met many very fine individuals there and formed friendships with some that extend well beyond the site and the topic of cane rods. Still respect the right of everyone there to their own opinions but am unwilling to even passively condone the personal attacks and one-sided censorship of recent months that would be implied by my continued participation there. GKW

Ken