Library Notes
June 18, 2004
By Pansy Hundley, Librarian.
Before we leave Corinth completely, I must tell you about an incident that happened to one of the ladies in our tour group.
She is the lady from Houston that went to Israel in the group I was in, in 1999. Her first name happens to be Texas and she wears Texas ear rings, t-shirts, and all sorts of Texas things. This is the lady that says "Lead, follow or get out of the way!" She’s very energetic and spry, although the years are adding up --- to 70 or so.
She was recovering from toe surgery done shortly before our trip. She was healing nicely. But, she was being very careful with that precious toe.
We were exploring the ruins at Corinth. She started to take a step from one big rock to another, and was sorta’ looking around for someone at the same time. There were high weeds growing around and between the rocks. She started to take a step, but the rock did not begin where she thought it did. When she took her step, she stepped into the weeds between the rocks, and down she went. I was a few steps behind her and one of the men was just ahead of her. He tried to catch her, but missed. Of course, later in the week, the story changed somewhat, and he was accused of pushing her! You must remember the bunch of comedians I was traveling with and it won’t be hard to imagine that a story could get changed dramatically in a very short time.
Well, Texas Marie wallered around between those two big rocks, managing to hit her forehead on one of them and skinning and bruising everything from her head down to her toes. But, she did not hurt the healing toe.
By the time all the men saw her and swooped down to help her up, she had a big bump-knot just above her eye. Her head was bleeding, her leg was skinned and bleeding and she was more embarrassed than hurt. She would not got to a doctor to get checked over; insisted that she was alright.
Within about two hours, her right eye began to turn purple and black. Then the left one, not to be outdone, in a short while, began to turn the same colors. She was swollen all around them and the cut kept bleeding again and again.
I had seen one of her sons and her grandsons the night before we left on the big silver airplane. I was supposed to be taking care of her for them and, from the looks of her, I wasn’t doing too good a job. Figured I would not get that job again.
By the next morning Texas Marie was a sight to behold. She was changing colors everywhere and half of her was swollen. People were probably wondering what the other feller looked like.
The next day, nothing had improved. The black and blue was moving down her face, into her cheeks. She wore her "Don’t mess with Texas" t-shirt that day, with a shirt over it. She said if anyone stared at her, she was going to throw that shirt open and that "Don’t mess with Texas " slogan was going to jump out at them. They would think she was one tough Texan and not stare at her anymore!
Well, Texas Marie did alright. That black and blue continued to work its’ way down her cheeks, all the way down to her chin by the time we got home. She had fallen the first Wednesday after we left on Saturday, so she was black and blue for most of the trip. She wore sun glasses for the first few days and then kinda’ quit worrying about it.
She could cover some of it with make-up and was trying to cover as much as possible before her boys saw her and had heart failure.
She was going to her doctor when she got home. Her head was still swollen and very sore, as was one of her legs. But her toe did fine. She probably forgot about it most of the time, because everything else, including her ribs, hurt more.
Our Italian guide did not say anything about her face until late in the week. She thought Texas Marie had been in an automobile wreck before the trip.
Corinth made a very strong impression on her, for more than one reason.
I’ll probably see her within the next two weeks and find out if she has any scars or not. And, ask about her toe!
This week, maybe we can see about a book. Then next week I’ll tell you about Epidaurus, the famous fourth century theatre, located there and Apollo and his son, Asclepius. I dare not go two weeks and not let you know about new books. I’ll have a bunch of women down here, walking back and forth in front of the library, carrying placards, asking for the latest from Mary Higgins or Patterson or Koontz book, in which case I had better get on the ball.
Harry Bosch is back, Ya’ll, in his latest adventure and many of you will know that name immediately. Well, of course we know who Harry Bosch is. We’ve helped him solve many a crime and we always come out the winner in his books. This is the continuing character that Michael Connelly writes about and this latest adventure is entitled "The Narrows". Naturally, Bosch gets himself into as much trouble as usual, and needs all the help that he can get.
"FBI agent Rachel Walling finally gets the call she’s dreaded for years: the one that tells her the Poet has returned. Years ago she worked on the famous case, tracking down the serial killer who wove lines of poetry into his hideous crimes. Rachel has never forgotten Robert Backus, the killer who called himself the Poet – and apparently he has not forgotten her either.
Harry Bosch gets a call, too. The former LAPD detective hears from the wife of an old friend who has recently died. The death appeared natural, but this man’s ties to the hunt for the Poet make Harry dig deep – and lead him into a terrifying, bewildering situation.
"The Narrows" places Bosch in league with Rachel Walling, at odds with the FBI and squarely in the path of the most ruthless and ingenious murderer in Los Angeles history. What follows is a taut and tantalizing mystery that has Bosch racing from the hostile vistas of the Nevada desert to the glittering Las Vegas strip to the dark corners of Los Angeles.
Through it all, Bosch works at his newfound life as father to a young daughter, balancing the deepest love he has ever felt with his own sense of mission and his profound awareness of evil."
See, I told you he would need help. He can get himself into quite a fix, very quickly. Now that I have come up with a new Harry Bosch, am I forgiven for no book last week? Just in case you have not read "The Poet" which is several years old, of course we have it right here, right now. If you need to refresh your memory as to what a dirty, rotten scoundrel the Poet is/was, we’ll let you read the book again too. We aim to please!