Library Notes
December 19, 2003
By Pansy Hundley, Librarian.
I hold in my hand a Christmas card. That’s not unusual this time of year. But what is unusual is the picture on it. This is a picture of a very dignified outhouse, with the half-moon cut into the door. There is a green wreath, with a red ribbon decorating it, hanging on the door. There are stone steps leading up to it, formed in the shape of Texas.
If you’ll think for a minute, you may realize that this has to be from my dislocated Texas cousin, JoCille, who lives bodily in Alabama, with her heart in Texas.
Our aunt Mary Dell, who happens to be the grandmother of Brian Garner, who was a coach at Farmersville last year, and is now principal at Bland this year, is the instigator of this. She had this specially made for JoCille as a gift and they managed to haul it all the way to Alabama.
This custom-made two-holer sets in JoCille’s backyard., Now, you might think that that dignified outhouse sets out there and they pass by and look at it now and then. Well, you don’t know my Texas cousin too well, I realize. But maybe I’ve told you so much about her that you expect something unusual. Just keep that thought, while I relate to you how she utilizes this gift from her aunt, that came all the way from Texas.
She serves from this dignified outhouse, I’ll have you know. She has her kids and their families or people from church over quite a lot. When weather is permitting, they may eat in the back yard. The punch bowl, which only contains punch, mind you, sets down in one side of the two-holer and she serves the punch from it. No one else in the world would think of doing that or have the nerve to do it.
A friend of hers, a past or present (I don’t remember which) city official told her she would have to get a permit for her outhouse. She quickly told him it would be a Texas permit, because it’s a Texas outhouse.
She hasn’t been in the newspaper yet, with her unique "entertainment center". But, it would not surprise me in the least to learn in the future that she and it were featured in a story, with pictures.
She’s doing fine, popping back and forth to Hawaii every chance she gets and staying as long as she can. Everything she buys goes on a credit card and you wouldn’t believe the amount of flyer miles she gets. Those miles usually go straight to Hawaii. She took her kids last year and I think she’s taking grand kids next year. You may recall that she and her Air Force husband, Lem, (one of the greatest people in the world) lived there at one time. They adopted an Hawaiian boy also, so he really feels at home there.
This is the one that gives me a hard time every chance he gets. I can’t imagine why. The one who would never marry? And, then "their eyes met across a crowded room". He not only married her, but they now have a little girl about three. Those eyes’ll get you in trouble every time, if you don’t watch out.
So, I’m outa here. I’ll let you know if I get a news article about this gal and her outhouse,
Before I go, you know that I am going to "pamper" ya’ll with a new book, and it’s by Jonathan Kellerman. So, that "pampers" you twice!
Kellerman usually features Dr. Alex Delaware in his books, has for years. He’s come up with a different character in this one: "…a different hero will hold the reader spellbound: a dedicated young psychologist, unschooled in the ways of violent crime and incalculable evil – until his life is irreversibly touched by both…and he is thrust into a chilling hunt for a 21st century Jack the Ripper." Now, as a normal rule, we do not like these writers switching characters on us like this. We’ve helped Dr. Alex for years, with all of the crimes that he has solved and I’m not sure how we will feel about breaking in a new "star". Kellerman could have introduced this new character, and let him help Dr. Alex. He, evidently, must have thought differently. Maybe he thought that we were getting tired of Delaware. But, you just don’t get tired of a man that has become a member of the family over the years. Here’s new Dr. Jeremy. Let’s see what you think about him. There is a website on the book for the publisher. If you just don’t like this, you could e-mail Kellerman and tell him how you feel. Maybe get him back to Delaware where he should be, eh?
"When his brief, passionate romance with nurse Jocelyn Banks is cut short by her kidnapping and brutal murder, Dr. Jeremy Carrier is left emotionally devastated, haunted by his lover’s grisly demise and warily eyed by police still seeking a prime suspect in the unsolved slaying. To escape the pain, he buries himself in his work as staff psychologist at City Central Hospital – only to be drawn deeper into a waking nightmare when more women turn up murdered in the same gruesome fashion as Jocelyn…and the suspicion surrounding Jeremy intensifies. Now, the only way to prove his innocence and put his torment to rest is to follow the trail of a cunning psychopath.
Spurring on Jeremy’ investigation is Dr. Arthur Chess, an enigmatic pathologist who specializes in examining the dead, but harbors a keen fascination with the darker deeds committed by the living, Arthur draws Jeremy into an unexpected friendship, and into the confidence of a cryptic society devoted to matters unknown and unspoken. When he suddenly slips away, Jeremy is left to contend with an onslaught of anonymous clues – and the growing realization that a harrowing game of cat and mouse has been set in motion.
But who besides Jeremy is playing – and who is making the rules? Before the killer strikes again, Jeremy races to connect the disturbing puzzle pieces being fed to him. Yet his search for answers only seems to yield more questions. And deepening the mystery is the undeniable presence of someone watching it all – and guiding Jeremy’s investigation from behind the scenes. As the game intensifies, Jeremy must decide if a secret ally is setting him on the right path…or a sadistic enemy is setting him up for a fate far beyond even the most twisted imagination."