I was just telling you a bit about the delightful Milo in The Phantom Tollbooth. He receives a purple tollbooth, some coins to pay tolls with, and a map of the places served by this particular tollbooth. He immediately observes they aren’t anywhere served by the Jersey Turnpike… (Well, I …
When I was a mere slip of a bookwright — a veritable inchbookworm — I stumbled upon several books that rang out to me like bells across a silent snowfield. And, strangely, usually, shortly after I absorbed them, they vanished. Not because I personally lost them: Never! Books which belonged …
This past week, I’ve been meticulously cataloging Timothy’s music: collections, fake books, sheet music, instructional books with varying degrees of comprehensiveness… A few surprised me: The Rodgers & Hart Songbook? Paul Simon’s Greatest Hits? A couple made me smile, like Mancini’s “Peter Gunn” and The Bumper Book of Pub Favourites. …
It is a difficult enough thing to do, to go through one’s beloved’s belongings after they die. Clothes that still smell faintly of their cologne (patchouli, in Timothy’s case). Diaries with memos about dates you shared, appointments you didn’t, gifts given to you for anniversaries or birthdays. Items you know …
