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Bad news wayward letter
serial blog, part 3
When I leave Bigger Dodge I recall that Mr. Endearing said I should be sure and climb the hill, climb the hill out of town. He repeated it like a child's song, the farmer in the dell, the farmer in the dell. The hill is virtually a cliff, and it is the only way out. I climb and climb, and in a recurring dream I have, I am tipping backwards, only to be buried with Anne in the past.
But then I return to civilization, where the people don't talk to each other and look askance if they happen upon the same picture at a museum. It is not very comforting.
Still, I decide when I return home I'll dash off a note to Mr. Endearing, thanking him for the tip on the Inn that had room. I think, as a writer and a bookstore owner, he'll appreciate the Carl Sandburg story. Besides, I want to tell it to someone, even if he does write science fiction. I won't hold the science fiction thing against him.
At home I give the letter wings, spill it out, and decide whatever happens, happens. Do I think it could leave a wake of disaster in its path? Dear reader, would you? The letter says
Dear Mr. Endearing Bookworm, Our paths crossed briefly last Thursday at your bookstore. I was the one who was sweating profusely and had inadvertantly ended up at the B. Casino and hotel due to a traffic jam. All the men wore gold jewelry and the women has pastel pant suits, espadrilles, and plenty of hairspray. It was scary. I decided I could only get a sandwich there if someone tested it before I did. But I digress.
Thank you for your fabulous suggestion of The State Park Inn. They did have space for one night and the park is lovely. I tried all the trails marked "rugged." Not.
I wanted to share an incident that happened in Bigger Dodge. I went on a house tour where the guide urged me to go to the home of Ann Teweksbury, age 95, and take a tour of her personal home. Ann and I talked a bit and then after I viewed her collections, heavy on Wedgewood and 18th century silver, I told her what I really enjoyed was the small etching of Carl Sandburg, personally inscribed to her from Sandburg,and placed obscurelyin a corner.
She then said Carl was a friend of the family (her childhood family) and he would come over and they would have family discussions. As she grew older she would be his secretary, taking down his letters. After he college graduation (Wellesley), Sandburg and his wife invited her to stay at their home near the Michigan sand dunes (really fun if you've never tbeen there). But he was so busy reading the Life of Lee, she said, that there was little for her to do, so she went out and slid down the sand dunes in her raccoon coat.
At any rate, I enjoyed the anecdote and hoped in some small measure to redeem myself for not reading the Harry Potter books, which you adore. Probably I remain at the complete wastrel level.
When I visited Ann, she was dressed in a royal blue dressing gown. Yellow plastic cups were at the tableside, one with a straw and dried up frizzy stuff, like a rootbeer float gone bad. Everything seemed vaguely medicinal and I wondered in an O2 tank was nearby.
There were some moments on the this trip that just seems rather magical to me. Ann was certainly one, and meeting you seems another. Generally I'm not given to superlatives or sentimentality or writing long letters to strangers, unedited etc etc Please forgive letter self destructs.
--B.
PS Ann had heard of Toledo, Ohio and knew is home to a marvelous art museum and world class glass collection. It seems some people may have only heard of Toledo, Spain.
Someday, I may perhaps learn a modicum of my impact on some people, but it wasn't with that letter.
Two days after I sent it there was a voice mail waiting for me from Mr. Endearing.
to be continued
bethsfrontporch at 9:27:00 PM EDT Blog about this entry |
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Hey! Beth can write a letter to me anytime she wants! You hear that, Beth?
"Mr. Endearing Bookworm"--Now that's a title if I ever read one. Fantastic. -
BETH!!! How could you leave off THERE???!!! This is a wonderful story! I love it. No further interruptions in the form of letters to Theresa or anyone else (other than Mr. Endearing Bookworm). I am entranced. And I love your letter. And I have heard of Toledo, Ohio as well as Toledo, Spain. And Canton, Ohio. And Canton, China. And Cleveland, Ohio, and Cleveland, England. Hey, can't you guys think of any original names???
Warmly,
Vicky
http://www.livejournal.com/users/vxv789/
- now get back to posting!! To be continued indeed!
10/18/05 11:14 AM