Sherlock Holmes speaks often of the “Baker Street Irregulars”, a bunch of ragamuffin street kids who help him solve cases. I think of myself during my early childhood as a “Holly Street Irregular” because my Mom and I lived downtown in Bellingham, Washington where she ran restaurants for a number of years and I was free to roam the streets on my own between the ages of 5 and 10 years old. Holly street was the main street running north and south in a town of 35,000.

            For most of those years I was pretty much on my own everyday, except when in school. We lived in several different hotels and these were my first “playgrounds”. The Bellingham Hotel (13 floors) where my Mom ran the kitchens had several dining rooms for big banquets and storage spaces where I built play forts and “airplanes” in the dark for pretend wars, etc. It also had many mysterious (to me) spaces in the basement for exploration. Next door was a Firestone garage where I built fortresses by stacking up used tires and crawling down into them. I could peak out at the folks parking their cars and make strange noises to scare them. Only once did a guy come to the tires to inspect the source and it was a little scary.

            In the alleys I could always find large cardboard boxes out of which to make forts, etc. Sometimes I would get inside of one and edge it up to the street and make funny noises as the people were walking bye – this was especially fun in the rain. Also, nearby there was a large empty lot full of thick trees and briar bushes where I forged my way deep into the interior by shoving cardboard strips ahead of me so I could build cardboard forts, etc. I did all of this stuff on my own, since there were no other kids living downtown.

            Actually, there were two other older boys living in the downtown hotels, both were named Jackie. One lived in the same hotel as I and the other lived in the Leopold where I lived briefly when in high school. Strangely enough, both Jackies were killed in the same car accident a few years later when they were in high school. The Jackie who lived in the Leopold showed me how to “invade” the large closet room where the maids kept the spare mattresses, etc. We stacked the mattresses up high, turn off the light, and jumped off the pile into the pitch dark.

            Once when I was still 5 I discovered the town garbage dump and played there some, but was spanked by Chuck my Mom’s second husband so I never went back. Overall I had a lot of fun roaming around and playing in various rooms and crannies of the hotels. I thought a lot about trying to use the dumbwaiter that ran from the kitchen of the restaurant to the basement, but never really did it. By the time I was 6 I started going to the movies, of which we had five right near all the hotels where we lived. Over those years I devised several ways to sneak into the movies without paying, and I only got caught once.

            When I moved into the junior high run by the local college, I began going to all the college sporting events (two or three a week) and so my wandering around in the hotels and streets came to an end. I should mention that my favorite place in the hotel was the snack-bar/restaurant in the lobby. I ate free there and at the restaurant because my Mom was the manager. I had very bad eating habits as a result. I remember being fascinated by the Bromo-seltzer drink which foamed up when you mixed it. I drank it regularly for fun. I also smoked a lot of cigarettes.

            So, I was in and out of all the streets and alleys in our town and was known by nearly everyone as “Virginia’s boy”. As they say, I got away with “murder” all during those years. Ironically, I never missed a day of school, not because I was anything of a student, but because I was inherently gregarious. I liked being with my friends and the kids at school were the only kids I knew. I did have trouble passing my grades, since I did not try very hard in school, but in the end I did manage to keep up with my grade. Even went to college.

I will go out on a limb here and now and predict that Joe Biden will win re-election this coming November. There are three reasons that lead me to this early conclusion, which of course presupposes that he will remain relatively healthy.

     My first reason is that it is becoming clear that Trump’s campaign will stumble and fold because of all the legal problems he has made for himself. At least one of these problems will snag him and make him ineligible to run for the Presidency. Also, as time goes bye the American people will slowly become suspicious of Trump’s moral and rational capacities and thus lose interest in him as a candidate for the Presidency. It is obvious that Trump is a sick and evil person.

            My second reason for this prediction is simply that President Biden has always been a political winner. He has shown that he has the style and techniques that make him effective when dealing with the American political process. Moreover, he has shown our world allies that America will support them when push comes to shove on the international scene. Time and time again Biden has proven himself capable of dealing with political and international challenges. People actually like and respect President Biden as a person. In addition, Biden has stepped up for those who are struggling for democracy around the world.

            Thirdly, as any serious glance at what Biden’s administration has done in recent months in the financial and employment arenas will show, the situation of the American people over the past year has greatly improved. The stock market is going strong, and unemployment is way down. People will slowly come to see that the Biden administration has delivered for the country in these key areas. For all of his short-comings and problems with aging, Biden is far and away our best Presidential choice this time around. He can be trusted as a person and as a President.

            Finally, the Republicans are too mindless and selfish to offer any other candidate than Trump. It is actually unfathomable how and why they simply refuse to set trump aside. Once again, they will lose because of this malady. They even let him make decisions for their party when he isn’t really as member of it. The party is too weak and fractioned to do anything to stop trump from being their candidate. It is actually downright embarrassing.    

            I will admit that this prediction is based on a good deal of Democratic bias and favoritism. My Grandfather ran and won for City treasure of our town on the Roosevelt ticket four times during the 1930’s and 40s. President Roosevelt has always held a special place in my heart and mind for how he and Churchill beat Hitler and Japan in World War Two. To some degree my prediction is really a hope for this tradition to be continued. At the same time, however, I really think Biden is by far the best person for the Presidency this time around.

                    My prediction also arises out of the great sorrow and frustration that have come to myself and our nation as a result of the catastrophe caused by Trump’s years of dominating our political culture. It has been a sickness that we so need to get beyond. Biden can and will be the bridge leading us out of this mess. The American people are beginning to acknowledge what a catastrophe it was to ever elect trump in the first place. His sickness has spread throughout the weird Republican party and our nation. This why we need and will get President Biden.