There is a house just south of us and just north of the Boy’s house, that has put my daughter-in-law in a pickle.

It’s a big house on a horse lot. Across the street from an elementary school, it back’s up to a small canal for extra open space. Big, leafy, green trees in front and a brand new pickleball court with bright lights in the back.

The backyard as seen from Google Maps. I’d show you the front view, but the owners had Google blur it our for privacy.

The daughter-in-law has fallen for the kids’ game. So much so, that date night takes place on a court.

“Thanks for watching the baby tonight,” the Boy told us this past weekend. “We were going to go out for dinner for a belated Valentine’s… but Jess is playing pickleball instead.”

It didn’t sound like he was invited and I didn’t ask. But I suspect he is no longer good enough for her — at least on the court.

Sunday night is good for sports. A tennis match, a pickup basketball game — even a softball league or sand volleyball. But pickleball is a waste of a baby-free evening.

Addiction can be a terrible thing, and we are all seeing it play out in my little family.

I assume she was headed for the gym and not for the house in question. But it would be “so close” and “so easy” if she could play there.

“I know the people who live there,” the daughter-in-law told us a few months ago. “But I haven’t played pickleball on their court.”

In the front yard, under the big leafy trees are two huge Trump banners. 106 days after the election, the signs still fly. We took our Harris/Walz signs down before November was over. 28 days after this current wave of chaos and craziness (Anybody else want war with Canada, Greenland and Gaza?). The big flags yet wave.

That’s no longer a political preference; it’s a personality cult. Long after the other cultists have taken down their signs — including the “Latinos for Trump” dude took his two flags down after flying them since 2016 — the pickleball house has kept the fascism faith.

I mentioned the dilemma to the non-political daughter-in-law. (At least I think the Boy and her are non-political — we don’t talk about it much.)

She just shrugged. “Yeah, not an easy choice.”

Before the election and before he took office and started pardoning “his” criminals and capitulating to Putin, I could see sharing a game. Smacking the pickle is not political support. Maybe the orange Putin puppet would lose, and we could all go back to normal.

But since the pardons, the running over Congress to take over all spending and closing departments, the naked quid pro quo with Mayor Adams… now even sharing a game with a fascist can make you a fascist.

It’s like that saying (of uncertain origin) “If there is 1 nazi having a nice dinner with 9 other people, there are 10 nazi’s at the table.”

Easy to say in retrospect from the German Nazis in 1940. When you know the future, it’s easy to adjust how you would have behaved in the past. Of course no one in their right mind would tolerate someone sitting at the table in an SS uniform (unless they were acting in a movie or a play). Or go into a house with two huge Nazi flags outside.

It’s a little harder to say now. Clearly, Trump is careening toward fascism as fast as his executive orders and Musk’s minor minions at DOGE will allow. He is sending people to GiTMo, but there no evidence of a genocide “yet.”

He is threatening war with Panama, Canada, Gaza, Greenland, but Americans are not taking him seriously “yet.” Although the Panamanians, Canadians, Gazan’s and Danes are making plans for their defense. Just because we Americans don’t take it seriously doesn’t mean it’s not a threat to the people on the other side. After all, threats (like beauty) are in the eyes of the beholder.

But others may say “we are not there yet.” Still time to talk and discuss and try to change minds. It’s still a political disagreement and not time to shun and blame and start physical fights.

I can see their point.

I have friends who supported Trump and even had political signs in their yard. They took them down after the election. That was a political choice. I’m surprised how often we agree politically when we take the personalities and the parties out of the equation.

But if those freak flags keep flying after this first 3 weeks, I can not abide. Proudly proclaiming your support for what is happening right now, is the line. It’s indefensible. Maybe it can be pulled back and become just the chaos and grift of the first Trump term. But so far, the second term looks more like Hitler’s chancellory, or Putin’s Presidency, or Erdogan’s first term, than an American administration.

I couldn’t look past those signs to play a kid’s game. Hell, I couldn’t even do it for tennis. Now that’s when a real adult choice would have to be made.