Another time and place...

"Daddy -- Remember the guy who played the guitar at my apt. last summer? This is his first book. I enjoyed reading it, even though I'm not an avid science fiction reader. Hope you enjoy it! Love, geri"

And the inscription:
"14-May-83
For Dan-Gerri's Father--
[Book title & author]
with regards
and all that stuf..."

Followed by the familiar, indecipherable signature of Steven K. Zoltan Brust.

Twenty-one years later on the very same date, I bought Toad Woods.

Tucked inside that paperback of Jhereg, is a postcard of the Henry VIII Inn and Lodge in Bridgeton, MO.

"Dear Daddy,

Hi! I'm in St. Louis for the week-end! I'm at Czarkon, a small convention - drove/rode down in Fred's van Thursday late night, along with Steve & Reen Brust. I've never been in Missouri before, or through Iowa for that matter - but know [sic] I have added 2 more states to my list of those visited/seen. The convention is quiet, but fun. Merry Christmas! Love, geri"

Czarkon quiet? That's not a term I've ever considered using to describe it since.

More from Another Time and Place

In the early days of Minicon, Minn-StF, Rune, or the convention itself sent out a survey. I think it went out with Rune back in the days when the clubzine was sent to all members of the convention.

Minn-StF Archivist quadong has the surveys. They were among the treasures lurking in "The Box in the Basement" that Don Bailey & Margo Bratton unearthed 10-15 years ago. I remember marveling at some of the questions, especially the one that asked respondents their weight. Not only that, most answered and apparently seriously, too.

Then there's the Michigan Carton Company Employee Directory dated October 1956. We've pretty much all seen and used employee directories. How many are listings not of work phones, extensions, or email addresses, but every employee's home address and home phone number? I've never seen one before, and I'm trying to imagine a company issuing such a directory today.

Michigan Carton had over 1,000 employees at the time. Thanks to the directory, transgressive by today's standards, I now know the phone number at my first home, 89 Jordan Street. (We didn't move to 22 Grand Blvd. until the next summer.) The number was 3-3532. WO 3-3532, that is, but only the front of the directory with the phone numbers for the Fountain Street Power Plant and Angell Street Mill, and various departments for nights, Sundays, and holidays include the "WO" (aka Woodward).

Cool. The directory includes the address and phone number of the company president. Lawrence Fell lived at 200 Wahwahtaysee Way. I always loved the name of that road, even before I learned it means firefly in Longfellow's "Hiawatha," as I just did.

At the door on summer evenings,
Sat the little Hiawatha,
Heard the whispering of the pine-trees,
Heard the lapping of the waters,
Sounds of music, words of wonder;
"Minne-wawa!" said the pine-trees,
"Mudway-aushka!" said the water.
Saw the fire-fly Wah-wah-taysee,
Flitting through the dusk of evening,
With the twinkle of its candle
Lighting up the brakes and bushes,
And he sang the song of children,
Sang the song Nokomis taught him;
"Wah-wah-taysee, little fire-fly,
Little flitting, white-fire insect,
Little, dancing, white-fire creature,
Light me with your little candle,
Ere upon my bed I lay me,
Ere in sleep I close my eyelids!"