Digging Through the "Archives"

I was going through this memory book that my mother made for me years ago, and I came across one of the first stories I ever wrote. I thought I'd share it.

The Talking Seal

Once upon a time, there was a talking seal. He always talked to Sara and Jason. Ginger was the name of the seal. Mandy and Ashley were Ginger's sisters. Dwayne was the zoo-keeper. Children come to the zoo to see Mandy, Ashley and Ginger. Sara and Jason like to talk to Ginger. Ginger likes to say, "Will you come and visit me every day you can?" Sara and Jason say, at the same time, "Yes, we will try." Mandy and Ashley stare at Ginger because they are astonished. They don't know what those noises coming from Ginger mean. Wouldn't you like to see this talking seal, too? She might talk to you someday.

I wrote that in 1984 when I was in third grade.  The names are those of my classmates and friends.

It's not a great story, but I've always liked it.  And my mother must have liked it, too, because she typed it up on our computer (that would have been the Apple IIc) and printed it out on our dot matrix printer.

Remembering Linda

My first job in a library was in college. I worked in the back of the library preparing books for the shelves - laminating paperbacks, applying spine labels and stripping books. Stripping the books was the most fun. It means applying the thin strip of metal that causes the books to trip the alarm if they're not checked out. One of my co-workers said the process was like giving the books a lobotomy.

My supervisor at the library was Linda Clark. She was lots of fun. When I was accepted into the library school at the University of Texas, she was thrilled for me. She had gone there herself years earlier. I asked her if she knew the professor who had signed my acceptance letter, and her response was, "Is he still there?"

I didn't know if that was a good thing or a bad one, but he was "still there."

Linda also clued me in to the fact that librarians don't really get a chance to read that much.

And she watched King of the Hill. My roommate, who worked in a different part of the library, and I always wanted to call Linda and leave a message on her office voice mail spoofing one of our favorite bits from the first season of that show.  "You don't know who I am, but I know where you work."  But we never did.

I learned yesterday that Linda Clark was killed in a car wreck on Monday. I hadn't really seen her since I graduated from college, but I still thought about her. I considered her a friend, and I will miss her.

The End of the Experiment

Well, I made it through February without eating any fast food.  I didn't even eat all my TV dinners, so I've still got them to eat, too.

I have not weighed myself, so I don't know if I lost any weight. Probably not. I can't get that lucky.

Promptly on March 1, a friend and I went to Wendy's. It tasted delicious!