“LET’S SEE what interesting things are happening outside the cave, boys and girls. Hand me the paper, will you, Bob?”
“Yeah.”
“Say! Here’s something! A high-school student was stabbed to death somewhere, anywhere, who-knows-where, doesn’t-matter-where. Could have been a boy, could have been a girl. Doesn’t matter, but it was a boy. He was stabbed by another high-school student. Could have been a boy, could have been a girl. Doesn’t matter, but it was a boy. Now, boys and girls, it must take something pretty awful for one of you to stab another of you to death, right? What do you suppose it was? Give up? You give up, don’t you, Bob?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, according to the police, ‘The suspect and the victim began fighting over the way they had looked at each other in the lunchroom.’” Baldy laughed his unnerving laugh and repeated, “‘The suspect and the victim began fighting over the way they had looked at each other in the lunchroom.’” He laughed some more, and then he began to cough, and when he had recovered he said. “File that under ‘Exchanging Glances, Dooby, Dooby, Doo,’ and cross-reference it to ‘An Educated Electorate Is the Foundation of Jeffersonian Democracy’ and also to ‘School Days, School Days, Dear Old Golden Rule Days,’ will you, Bob?”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah.”
“Thanks, Bob. That’s our look at the world outside the cave for tonight, boys and girls. You roll that rock in front of the door, and you sleep tight.”
[to be continued]
Have you missed an episode or two or several?
You can begin reading at the beginning or you can catch up by visiting the archive or consulting the index to the Topical Guide. The Substack serialization of Little Follies begins here; Herb ’n’ Lorna begins here; Reservations Recommended begins here; Where Do You Stop? begins here; What a Piece of Work I Am begins here; At Home with the Glynns begins here; Leaving Small’s Hotel begins here.
You can listen to the episodes on the Personal History podcast. Begin at the beginning or scroll through the episodes to find what you’ve missed. The Substack podcast reading of Little Follies begins here; Herb ’n’ Lorna begins here; Reservations Recommended begins here; Where Do You Stop? begins here; What a Piece of Work I Am begins here; At Home with the Glynns begins here; Leaving Small’s Hotel begins here.
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You’ll find overviews of the entire work in An Introduction to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy (a pdf document), The Origin Story (here on substack), Between the Lines (a video, here on Substack), and at Encyclopedia.com.
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