A rare gem at the bookstore after work today: a nice old hardcover copy of Tess D'U for fifty cents. Now, Tess was once on frequent rotation at Miette's Lending Library, until Miette woke up to see that the Library had become not a Library so much as a Free Book Bonanza, and the unwritten rule of rotation not "you take this sweetheart and read it and I'm sure I'll get it back someday" as "you take this and I will never see of it again and years from now, when I have a yen for it, god only knows where it may be." So because of this, it was an especially rare find, feels immediately at home on the now non-rotating shelves. But you know what!? It gets even better: tucked between pp 118-119 ("Daiyyman Dick...") were two old "While You Were out" telephone messages for one "John" at the McGraw-Hill Companies, a postcard sent from Kansas to John from his mother in 1954, and a note on plain white paper from Bob (or Barb?) to John announcing that the maid had been given the day off to go to the beach (not to worry, "she will work tomorrow though"). Whoever it was who pinched my last copy of Tess, I thank you.
What this has to do with today's podCAST: also picked up a Spencer collection, it a buck. My day has been thoroughly MADE, then, and perhaps somewhere, someone else's will be too. John, if you're out there, I've got your mail.
Miette's Bedtime Story PodCAST: Elizabeth Spencer: A Kiss At The Door