Out to Lunch

Let me tell you about my thrilling day. I turned on THE TARNISHED ANGELS, which I had dvr'd from TCM. I think before Megan Abbott left town, she and Bill Boyle and I were talking about watching it, but it was impossible to get hold of. After Megan left, I noticed it coming on TV. So I watched some of it this morning but then I started feeling guilty because I shouldn't watch it without Bill Boyle! I watched enough to see that it contained a goodly percentage of the cast of WRITTEN ON THE WIND, which, like THE TARNISHED ANGELS, was directed by Douglas Sirk. Those angels were so tarnished! As you can see from the above frame. Plus Mardi Gras! I mean, it takes place during Mardi Gras. But I turned it off. I was trying to decide what to read next and I recalled that maybe Megan and I were going to read this book of Mississippi ghost stories I got for her by way of apology after rudely scoffing at a ghost story she told me in a public forum. The Rowan Oak ghost story in the book supports BOTH sides of our argument and even quotes our pal Bill Griffith. So I called Megan but she never answers her phone and maybe she called back but I never answer my phone, so you can see the difficulty. So I didn't know whether to start the ghost story book or not. Then I remembered that last night Tim Youd told me he was on the last 17 pages of THE SOUND AND THE FURY, which he is typing as part of an art project at Rowan Oak. So I walked down there hoping I could watch him type the last few sentences ("They endure" and all that, isn't that it?) but the kid sitting by the door told me that Tim was at lunch and Bill Griffith was at lunch and everybody was at lunch. So I went to Square Books instead and bought PYLON, the Faulkner novel on which THE TARNISHED ANGELS is based, and I sat there in the store and read that mint julep murder mystery that Bill told me about, which included a kind of shabby carnival magician (attention Megan Abbott!) and which I must have read years ago, because it's in the book KNIGHT'S GAMBIT, but most of my life is just a blur to me now, which is why I type up these little pieces of crap.