The Miraculous Library

Blipfoto enriches all our lives, including Margie’s. A couple of Margie blips ago, CALIFORNIAGIRL1 commented that she had found a book about Camp Mikan on the internet. She didn’t include a link, so of course I did a search. I found an essay, not a book, here. 

I copied the paragraphs about Camp Mikan, pasted them into a new document, printed it out in 18-point type, and took it to Margie today. She was thrilled to read it, and while her speech is sometimes halting as she searches for words, she reads like a professional. She rolled out an expressive reading on the spot.

“Where did you find this?” she asked me.

On the internet. 

“Is that some miraculous library? Can anybody use it?”

Yes, I said, not stopping to explain. And then I commented on her elegant yellow blouse.

“Oh this,” she laughed. “My mother made this for my sister, and then it got passed down to me.”

She often tells me her mother made any piece of clothing I admire. Her mother died in the early 1970s and had quit sewing a decade or so earlier, so I just nod and say her mother was a very fine seamstress.

“Oh of course she was. Her family was in the tailoring business. I’m surprised she chose this yellow, though. She generally avoided bright colors. She said they were too loud for civilized people. So this blouse—it wasn’t really like her, but it has stood the test of time. And the flags on it—the flags are appropriate.”

I asked why the flags are appropriate.

“Because whenever my mother is around, you get the feeling that the caution flags are waving. She can be a monster.”

We headed out for coffee, Margie behind her rollator/walker. On the way she apologized.

“I’m not quite here yet,” she explained. “I was asleep when you arrived, and I still have to make it across the bridge.”

The bridge? I asked.

“From asleep to awake. It takes me a while, but if we find the coffee place, that will be a big help.”