SHEsaysWITHaSMILE.blogspot.com

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we all know i have a great tendency toward magical thinking.

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so, hop on the carpet with me and go for the ride:

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i am spontaneously invited to breakfast in livermore by my sister, niece & nephew. i'm in a rare position to say yes

i go.

we eat, we visit, we have a good time...

this puts me on stanley blvd. heading west, at around.. i don't know.. noon.

my sister left early with her son to run an errand, and so it was me and my niece in a temporary rent-a-car, because.. /not relevant to the story..

except it is a very fast, zippy, car.. so i do tend to drive faster. -anyway,

it would admittedly be an exaggeration to compare what i saw to a puppy, but, it would not be a great exaggeration

because i was quite emotionally distraught.

when, as i was driving down stanley, i saw a book. a book in the middle of the road getting all ran over, and over, by cars, trucks & buses

"did you see that book?" i asked my niece, "it's in the middle of the street... i can't just let it get run over like that.. i'm going to have to go back honey.. "

"a book? i didn't see it"

"well, i did.. i 'm going to flip a u~ey here and find a way to get it..."

and so i did, and circled back around. and realized there was no place to park along the side of the road, so would have to find a driveway, find a parking space, and walk a little ways to make the rescue..

"i'm so curious what book it is... if it's a journal? or a library book, or what..."

and so i found a place to pull in safely & park, and just at that same time, a woman was also parking & getting out of her car -oh! she's going to rescue the book... i thought, and was mixed between happiness & jealousy


but she looked write past the book and instead was pulled over temporarily in front of another car pulled over temporarily and they just needed to talk to each other for a minute. i don't think they even noticed the book

until

i came up beside them, and looked down the street -saw a giant bus, and grabbed at my heart, no, no, no...

as, sure enough, those bus tires drove directly over this poor, innocent, little black book, causing it to lift & fall.. twist & turn... flip, but

amazingly, it did not tear. ~ battered and bruised, but nothing broken and no spine injuries.

i waited for traffic to break, then ran out and grabbed it -as if it were a puppy.

ran back to my rent~a~car and showed it off to my niece:

MIDNIGHT IN THE GARDEN OF GOOD AND EVIL
JOHN BERENDT

in silver font down the black spine, with the random house logo at the bottom. blank on the front & back hard covers.

and while i was driving i had my niece check inside.. see if there was a library stamp, or personal sticker, or any hand~written anythings, anywhere.. any dog~eared pages, etc.

the book has no markings, no tag -no owner mentioned.

and, if you rescued a puppy from being run over, and the puppy had no tags..

wouldn't part of you feel like the whole thing was divinely inspired? like you were supposed to be matched up somehow.

i certainly think that way.

and so, i couldn't help but believe, that i was supposed to find & rescue..

and most importantly -read- this lovely, mysterious, battered/bruised but very alive black book.

i'm so excited!

and i'll let you know how it goes, but check this out, while you are still on the carpet ride:

in the permission to reprint previously published material, we have a copyright 1932 /my lucky number is scrambled in there... in fact, maybe it was in order before the giant bus tragedy

but most remarkably -scanned back pages and read, Two people have won my everlasting affection and gratitude for their energy and enthusiasm in guiding this book into finished form: my agent, Suzanne Gluck...

/and i didn't even read the next name

"suzanne gluck!

suzanne gluck!?!"


-because for those of you who don't know.. i'm very interested in her as an agent, because she was, (is?) martha beck's agent, and

i steer by starlight too.

-so, how wild is all that?

and i don't know the story. i've never read this book.. i am very familiar with the title.. i've not seen the movie, but several people have told me it was good

but something tells me,

a) i am supposed to read it
b) i'll be getting something very valuable out of reading it

and c) -most people know i don't read lists for what books to read, i don't belong to any clubs, i don't refer to magazines..

each book reaches me through a unique/random encounter of some sort or another, but this one tops the charts.

i'm glad we found each other even before i know exactly why.

it does feel magical.

& i like the ride.