Foreshadowing
You will recall, I hope, the advice I gave you back in Topical Guide 128:
The first was Veronica McCall. … She said, “Well, hello there!” and she rippled her fingers through the air. She reversed the set of steps that had brought her to her feet and slid herself into her seat. As she sat, her dress tightened across her bottom and along her legs, and I obtained a photographically precise and durable impression of the outline of her underpants.
Little Follies, “The Girl with the White Fur Muff”
My advice was: “Keep your eye on those underpants.”
Foreshadowing: The Payoff
I unbuckled my belt and started to unzip my fly. The zipper stuck, and I glanced down at it. I could see, jammed in it, a bit of cloth, a bit of pink cloth. My hands grew cold at the fingertips. Goose bumps spread across my back. I pulled the waistband of my pants out enough so that I could see inside. I was wearing Veronica’s underpants.
“What’s the matter, Peter?” asked my mother.
“Uhhhhh,” I said. My mind was entirely occupied by terror; there was no room for thought. “Uhhhhh,” was all I could say.
“Do you feel all right?” she asked. “You look pale.” I’m quite sure I did. “Maybe you should go to bed early tonight. You don’t want to get a cold now, with Christmas coming.”
“Uhhhhh,” I said.
“What on earth is wrong?” she asked, wrinkling her brow.Little Follies, “The Girl with the White Fur Muff”
Was I right, or was I right?
[more to come on Wednesday, December 1, 2021]
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.
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.
At Apple Books you can download free eBooks of “My Mother Takes a Tumble,” “Do Clams Bite?,” “Life on the Bolotomy,” “The Static of the Spheres,” and “The Fox and the Clam,” the first five novellas in Little Follies.
You’ll find an overview of the entire work in An Introduction to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy. It’s a pdf document.