Topical Guide 238
Mark Dorset
Dorset, Mark
As the evening wore on, no one became more sentimental than my old high-school friend Mark Dorset, who, after a while, as if he’d been quite deliberately working up to a level of intoxication that would allow him to say what he had to say, took me aside and said that he had something to give me, a memento of my grandparents that he had had in his possession since my grandfather had died, three years before.
From his pocket he took what seemed to be a pocket watch. He pressed the stem, and the lid popped open. Inside were three tiny ivory figures, two women and a man, sexually entangled on a miniature bed. “Just look at that workmanship!” said Mark.
I did. . . . I stared at the trio and their performance. My throat was tight. My eyes were wet. I was dumbfounded. I was grief-stricken. I was proud.
But I was also envious. Mark’s initiation into my grandparents’ secret had preceded mine. By three years. Why? Mark had a story, of course. I listened to him tell it, and while I listened I tried to wear the amused look of one who knows it all already, who has heard it all before. In truth, though, it was news to me, and it hurt to hear it from someone other than my grandparents. Why had they never told me? Why had they told Mark before me?Herb ’n’ Lorna, Preface
Well, there I am, making my first appearance in the Personal History. (Of course, you will have noticed that my work made its first appearance in one of the epigraphs to Herb ’n’ Lorna. You can refresh your memory here.( I introduced myself in Topical Guide 1, so I won’t repeat myself here.
Why did Herb and Lorna reveal their secret to me before they revealed it to Peter? I won’t tell you. I’m no spoiler. As you see above, when I enter the Personal History bearing a mystery. Mark Dorset, man of mystery. I like that.
I omitted the link to Cocktails with a Curator: Constable’s “The White Horse” in yesterday’s BTW. Here it is.
And I’ll repeat the cocktail recipe for you:
Gin and Dubonnet
1 part London dry gin
2 parts Dubonnet Rouge
squeeze of lemon
stirred and strained over 3 ice cubes and lemon wedge
[more to come on Friday, April 15, 2022]
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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.