Il Gigante Gonfiabile (The Inflatable Giant)

Silvio Marcellus of 19 Juniper Row faces Citation #WB-2024-1225 after his twelve-foot Christmas snowman, Lord Flufferton, remains inflated past Willowbrook Estates' nine-o'clock removal deadline. A bass-baritone aria and SATB board chorus turn the dispute into a winter tribunal. Every name, address, citation number, and ordinance in this episode is fictional.

[Recitative] At nineteen Juniper Row, beneath the frosted moon, Lord Flufferton, twelve feet tall, arose one night too soon. With scarf and buttons shining, he blessed the holy night, A red-and-white monarch in the winter light.

[Bass-Baritone Verse] I raised him on the twenty-fourth, when bells began to ring, But dawn brought Citation WB-2024-1225, the board's accusing sting.

[Board Chorus] By order of the Willowbrook Estates Architectural Review Committee, all inflatable yard ornaments shall be deflated and removed by nine o'clock on the morning following the holiday.

[Bass-Baritone Aria] O board, must joy be folded, packed, and tied At nine o'clock, with Christmas still outside? His mighty fan, his noble stance, Are matters far beyond compliance!

[Board Chorus] Deflate! Remove! The deadline stands! No winter sovereign on private lands! By nine, by nine, the yard must clear! No festive giant may remain here!

[Bass-Baritone Verse] At eight fifty-nine I signed my name, At nine-oh-one the chorus came. Gerald Mercer raised his pen: The ornament still inflates. Amen!

[Final Cabaletta] O snowman, fall with dignity, Your cold white crown belongs to me! The fan shall cease, the cords shall part, But no committee rules the heart!

[All] The yard is bare, the sky is wide, The citation sleeps, the forms subside. At Willowbrook, beneath the snow, The grandest wars from small things grow!