2001-11-24 � Strafrechtswissenschaft

This morning I was delighted to note that the library received the latest edition of Zeitschrift F�r Die Gesamte Strafrechtswissenschaft. If I ever leave this job, I'm gonna have to subscribe. I was leafing through and learning ever so much about strafrechtswissenschaft when Theresa said, "I know what you can do, Brian."

Everyone here knows I don't want to be a lawyer anymore and they are always suggesting curious careers for me. "What can I do, Theresa?"

"Last night I was watching the biography of Stephen King. And he started out really poor, I mean he had nothin'. I mean he had nothin'. He started out really, really poor. Oh, heavens he was poor.

"Of course, look at him now! But when he started out he had nothin'. I mean he was really poor. But he always wrote stories. Just like you, he did. He had nothin'. But he always wrote stories.

"And he tried to get them published. And he just couldn't. He tried to get a job teachin' but he couldn't. I mean he had nothin'. He would get a little something published in magazines, you know and then he finally got a job teachin'. Of course, they lived in a trailer and all 'cause he was really poor.

"And he wrote that one..." She started staring into space.

"What are you talking about, Theresa?"

"...Carrie that's the one. Carrie. And he threw it in the trash, he did. And his wife got it out of the trash and read it and said, oh, no you have to try this one. But he didn't know enough about teen girls. Of course, at the time they had nothin'. So the guy said make a few changes and this is really gonna... we can get this one... Twenty-five hunerd it was, the advance, and he said, 'I ain't never seen so much money in one place in all my life!' 'cause they never had nothin'.

"And they used to have funerals for the pets all the time, so silly, he never saw so much cryin' over cats and all. And what's the one with the hotel? They went off season and really stayed there. And it was about all the pressure he felt and oh, it was scarey. His books are scarey.

"Do you think there's a ghost in the library and we could all be hidin' and all and it could chase us and all? The ghost in the library?"

I think she was suggesting I go off and become a fabulously wealthy horror novelist. I'm poor now, but I could be rich. I think she said that. Such is the way with Theresa. Often you must read between the lines.

"Yeah," I said, "I could make you a character in my stories, Theresa. I could write all about you! And you could run from the library ghosts. Don't let them catch you!"

She got all bashful and blushed. "Oh, well, I don't know about that. I'm not much to write about. But I'll tell ya. He had nothin'. I mean they were really poor."

Posted at 12:19 p.m.

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