A Lovely Day in Willow Grove PA - Eileen's Clothes - It's me, Dante - Poem: My New Short Story

 Last night when I was in bed reading - Robin Cook's Pandemic - I wondered once again how many books a so-called normal person should read. 

Here's what I found today on the Internet.

"According to a 2014 Time magazine article, Americans read (in their words) “a paltry 19 minutes a day.” (19 minutes is pretty paltry.) The stat comes from a study conducted by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, who also noted that younger Americans, aged 25-34, read just four minutes a day — really, who are you people? — while American adults over 75 read upwards of one hour each day — aka: my peeps.

Now, as a book-lover, I just have to say: the ideal amount of time to spend reading each day is basically all of the time. But, unrealistic is that is, (because: bills, food, laundry) at least as much time as is available; which, I promise you, is more than four minutes, no matter how busy I might be. But, national stats and personal preferences aside, is there actually a science-backed number of minutes you should spend reading each day? After all, we already know reading helps improve memory and cognitive function, increases empathy and reduces stress, can improve social skills, and actually increases not only your intelligence but your learning capacity as well. Chances are, all those benefits aren’t happening in just four minutes."

The above is from BUSTLE. What? I know, I know. I never heard of it either.

PANDEMIC is extremely well wrin and suspenseful. Sadly I had forgotten about it and had to go all the way back to the beginning, where a young woman is going to DIE on a NY subway!

...

Members of my writing group reviewed my short story THE WILLOW GROVE BIBLE CHURCH. Ken asked me why I chose that name. 

I thought it summed up the story, I said.

...

As you may remember the Bill Adams family lives next door. For several years I was friends with Eileen Adams, Bill's mom, whom they drove up from Florida, where she and her husband had retired.

Eileen was a lovely woman who gradually developed dementia. She is still living in her assisted living community in Roslyn, PA. I had visited her a time or two.

Today Stacey Adams gave me two bags of clothes from Eileen.

What good taste she had!

I surprised them by walking over in one of her outfits and swinging a pocketbook.

I wore a jeans jacket.

It was brillig when I first went for my walk today. Kept on walking and bumped into a mailman. The sun was shining in my eyes, so I said,

"Hey Dante, is that you?"

"Yes," he said with pride, "it's me, Dante."

"I've got something for you," I said.

Indeed I mailed Coach Iris the letter I had sent her the other day which needed additional postage.

I basically emptied out my stamps and stuck em on the envelope plus a lavender iris for her.

I did love when Dante said,

"It's me, Dante."

That's all for now.

Gotta return to my writing group.

MY NEW SHORT STORY

I closed my eyes and wrote and wrote and wrote

I like it, I thought, I like it very much

Not a word of it was true

Yet characters were believable, likeable, devoid of scandal

but for one woman who drank. What good taste she had:

White Russians, from the liquor she found in her daddy's cabinet.

Garcon? I'm lonesome. Please fetch me a White Rusian

with red straw.