WHILE THE RECORDING was playing at Small’s, Albertine and I were touring “Summerset,” which the owners called a bed-and-breakfast, employing the obvious irony of deliberate understatement. We tried to keep our mouths from hanging open, but it wasn’t easy. They had spared no expense or effort in the remodeling, from William Morris wallpapers to imported tiles, and for their cheapest room (“The Poet’s Garret” up in the attic) they were asking three times what we were asking for our largest cottage, but they probably provided a nice breakfast with that, judging from the hors d’oeuvres.
The event was actually a fund-raiser, with an auction, to raise money for the Babbington Shelter for Battered Women. Albertine had donated a dollhouse — at least that was the way it was listed in the program. Actually, it was a miniature of Small’s Hotel. She had built it years ago, when we still had hopes for the place, but she had modified it considerably for the auction. The paint was peeling, the shutters were askew, a chubby, grumpy-looking man sat on the roof replacing shingles, steam hissed from the cellar windows at unpredictable intervals, and in a room on the top floor a tiny memoirist sat at a computer, tearing his hair. The whole thing had a farcical appeal, everyone chuckled about it, and it went for a good price.
[to be continued]
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