Under the Apple Tree

            The black and white television crackled. Cindy lay in front of the screen.
      She had finished her home work and could watch some television with mom,
      dad. Dad controled the dials, which had to be focused to find a channel.
      Dad had been in the signal corp in WWII and he knew how to find the stations.
      Bishop Fulton Sheen was at the top of dad's list to see. "The moral objection
      to prohibition" was listed as the Bishop's topic in the TV guide.
            Cindy thought it was funny that a Bishop would be against outlawing
      drinking alcohol. But, that's exactly what Bishop Fulton Sheen was saying,
      "Prohibition is an unwarranted limitation of human liberty and responsability,
      preventing a practice which is not evil in itself, as a means of preventing abuse."
      Cindy knew about dad's secret kegs of yeast in the basement. Dad had been
      brewing his own beer. The Bishop continued, "More money is spent uselessly
      on the emmence scope of prohibitionist. But enforced virtue is no virtue at all.
      Virtue is the free choice to do good, in spite of temptation to evil."
            Mom had gotten a prescription for wine for Cindy, who had an eratic heart beat.
      Mom and dad were drinking Cindy's medicine. Bishop Sheen continued, "If it were
      possible for the prohibitionist to deprive people of their sense of taste, the
      prohibitionist would do so." Cindy sipped a small glass of wine and felt warm
      and safe with her family. The side effect of her treatment was a lack of balance.
      Cindy stood up and zig-zagged to the bathroom. Mom and dad smiled as they
      clicked their glasses together and snuggled.
            Cindy thought about the Bishop's sermon while in the bathroom: "Did the Priest
      break the law when he drank the wine during Mass? Maybe, religion is protected
      from prohibitionist." The tile floor look like it was moving away from Cindy as
      she sat on the toilet. She felt she needed more of her medicine and staggered
      back to the television. Dad told Cindy she could have one more glass of wine
      and then she took a nap on top of the television. It was a large cabinet with a
      record player built in. Mom got a blanket and covered Cindy. Dad fiddled with the
      dials and got the Ed Sullivan Show. It was another warm Sunday for Cindy.

      :)