News And Noise

News 'n Noise was a little too cutesy even for me.

I'm doing various mother things tomorrow and then appearing at the C.J. Hooker Middle School in Goshen, NY, because the library wasn't big enough (hey, I take up a lot of space) and by the time I get home, I won't feel like blogging (or doing much of anything else, most likely). So I figured I'd slip this entry in while no one was watching.

First off, the news. Thanks to my pals at Google, I found out who will be reading the Listening Library version of the dead and the gone:

http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780739363690

Robertson Dean has a very impressive resume:

http://www.audiofilemagazine.com/gvpages/a1896.shtml

I look forward to hearing his narration of d&g. I really hope that Random House has actual copies as well as downloads available, since my downloading skills leave a lot to be desired (like everything).

That's it for news (unless you want to hear my spring cleaning schedule for the week). So onto noise...

I figured out why Rachel (intelligent girl) can't start school when she wants, which I need if she's going to accompany Luke (bitter hero) to his Life As We Knew It family's home.

You may recall that Hannah (rich girl) had an indentured servant (serv) named Pet, whose contract Hannah sells to raise the money to pay for Luke's transportation across the river (it's okay if you don't recall it; I'll recall it for the both of us). Hannah does this (I discovered) because Luke used to work at a coal mine her father owns, so Hannah feels a connection to Luke and chooses to help him (Luke isn't exactly a fugitive, but his life expectancy will be much greater if he makes it across the river). Ethan (idealistic boy) gets upset, decides to find Pet and rescue her, etc.

Here's what I didn't know when I wrote all that the other day. Hannah sells Pet to a dealer who tells her that he knows of several area bathhouses that are looking for new girls. What Hannah most likely doesn't realize (I'm not one hundred percent committed to her innocence on this one) is that bathhouses are both bathhouses and brothels (think of them as bathels). That's why Ethan is so upset and determined to find and rescue Pet.

So Ethan goes to Luke and says, I'm going to take all the money I have and use it to buy Pet back, but that isn't going to be nearly enough, so give me the money that Hannah gave you, and with any luck, that should be enough.

Luke refuses. But Rachel gives Ethan all the money she has for tuition. And that's why Rachel can't go to school. It's possible she and Luke go to her relatives' home and find they've all died, so she's stuck with Luke as her only protection.

Luke and Rachel may fall in love, but as of the moment, Luke ends up working with Jon (not that I'm sure what Jon does, but whatever it is, it's tough and manly), and Rachel goes to work with a Morales character (I know what she does and it's tough and womanly).

Now that I think about it, tough and womanly is what I'm going to be for the next few days. Not to mention cute and noisy.

If only I could also be intelligent and rich, life truly would be perfect!