I love historical fiction, especially good swashbucklers. Possibly my favorite novel in this catergory is The Burnished Blade by Lawrence Schoonover a novel that starts the day Joan of Arc burned in English occupied France and stretches all the way to fabled Tebizond in the Eastern Empire. I can’t reccomend it enough. I’m glad that no one has ever tried to make a movie of it, cause, frankly, the only thing that would do it justice is large cast mini-series and a hundred million dollars.

But my second favorite historical novel is, without a doubt, The Prince of Foxes by Samuel Shellabarger.

And this one, they made a movie of.

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Thirty years ago (or, as those of us of a Certain Age tend to phrase it, “Back when he was funny”), Steve Martin had a couple of standup routines involving forgetfulness.

One of them* went like this:

You can be a millionaire.. and never pay taxes! You say.. “Steve.. how can I be a millionaire.. and never pay taxes?”

First: Get a million dollars.

Now you say, “Steve.. what do I say to the tax man when he comes to my door and says, ‘You.. have never paid taxes’?”

Two simple words. Two simple words in the English language:

“I forgot!”

How many times do we let ourselves get into terrible situations because we don’t say “I forgot”? Let’s say you’re on trial for armed robbery. You say to the judge, “I forgot armed robbery was illegal.” Let’s suppose he says back to you, “You have committed a foul crime. You have stolen hundreds and thousands of dollars from people at random, and you say, ‘I forgot’?”

Two simple words:  “Excuuuuuse me!!“

Yes, my Official EOB Post Day is Thursday.  And yes, this is Friday.

What happened?

Well:  I forgot.  (Excuuuuuse me!!)

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