Chapter 4

I have a date with Granny. This is not bad ... this is good. Grannie is a babe. Grannie is easily in her seventies. She is four foot nine and slender with a bubble butt and excellent construction. Only thing is ... she's taking me to the library ... best thing about that is I have an ADULT library card...

Last time through I had a State Library Card ... for the juvenile branch ... although ... not exactly.

The last life the State Library burned ... kinda. There was more damage done by the fire department than by the fire. Books ... especially books printed from 1850 on were printed on acid paper. It's cheaper. So what if the books yellow on the edges and turn grey in the middle. Does it really matter that wet acid paper books get a little pulpy. Not to the book sellers ... just to the readers.

But I love the smell of books in the library. I love the feel of real ink on a page. I expect an old book to look old ... that's what tells me it's worth reading. Its smell and its feel. Good books seem to last longer.

I have fleeting memories of past occupations ... the Assistant Director Second Chance Unit of the Bureau of Reclamation, a branch of Nine Lives Institute, told me this was number nine ... no more chances.

Evidently, in one of my former lives I was an archaeologist and spent an entire year transferring Native American (Indian) artifacts from acid based cardboard boxes and acid based paper bag storage to 6 mil polyethylene ZipLoc type bags and approved acid free cardboard boxes. I remember it was fun and I made thirty six thousand dollars doing it.

US 27 becomes Cedar street and where Cedar and Shiawassee cross we turned right and right again. That put us at the Lee and Cady Wholesale Warehouse. Grannie was welcomed ... congratulated on her young man ... me ... and the hands started loading her weekly canned goods order. The management all came out to see her and her truck.

Daddy doesn't like to use the '36 ... it's not new enough to suit him ... or his important position as an officer of the court. No ... daddy would rather make two trips with the new station wagon than haul it all in one load.

After we finished with Lee and Cady Wholesale Warehouse, Grannie drove directly across Shiawassee to the Farmers City Market. There she bought locally grown produce, farm sausage and smoked hams, and fresh caught fish. The fish and meats supplied their own ice but Grama supplied the ice chests.

When we were finished with the Farmer's Market we turned left and over the Grand River to the Library annex. The librarian knew Grannie so they settled in for coffee and gossip while I looked up something ... anything ... for an English paper to impress Miss Brandywine. Lady Chatterley's Lover by D. H. Lawrence, 1928 Italian Edition ... absolutely banned in the United States ... of course the state library had copies. How else can legislators complain about a book is it doesn't give 'em a hardon? ... and Henry Miller's Tropic of Cancer was found in the same general area. I took notes. Both books have passages of extreme beauty ... and passages of explicit mind-blowing sex ... but so well written ... Not that it mattered all that much. Politicians are herd animals ... they follow the bull. Miss Brandywine wouldn't know where I got my references until the very last page.

"I'm done, Grama. Where are we going to eat?"

"Where would you like to go?"

"This is your party, Grannie ... I'm just supplying the cash."

That got a look from the librarian.

"Anywhere?"

"Yes, Ma'am ... what ever your heart desires."

"We're going to need more ice."

Now ... that sounds promising. More ice means we're going to be a while.

Granny drove straight through East Lansing and out Okemos Road to the Il Forno; a bar and dancehall.