The Stiff at our Door

I suspect that the General who stands outside our door--who moved here with us--is rather surprised at where he is, and how hot it is. His ancestry is from Xi'an, but he is uncomplaining and steadfast, and I am glad he is here.

Xi'an is an ancient Chinese city, and the "Terracotta Army" was assembled to provide its first emperor protection and conversation when he died. It was no small company. There appear to be about 8000 soldiers and 500 horses in the standing army.

In our case, our copy-cat guardian is more eye-pleasing than defensive: we have an alarm system for invaders.

I like to think of him, rather, as a kind of Mitt Romney on ceremonial guard duty. Every once in a while, I rap on him to determine whether he is real, or not. Pretty stiff!

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