sometimes silence is a habit that hurts

[levity]

In my quest to find the three E.L. Konigsburg books I wanted to reread the most I found Franny and Zooey, all my other Konigsburgs, two copies of The Count of Monte Cristo, all my Toni Morrisons I thought I'd lost in the move, my grandmother's Austen compilation, and a very pretty hardbound of the complete Adam Smith. Why do we have a very pretty hardbound of the complete Adam Smith. Don't answer that question.

Bookshelf-deciphering problems aside: I haven't always loved E.L. Konigsburg's work, but I've always loved her voice, how she looked at art and the world and silence and speech, her smart-mouthed sharp-minded grounded preteen protagonists, her unwillingness to be lofty and her equal unwillingness to dumb herself down. Rest in peace, madam. The world was a better place for having you in it.

I picked up my pen and filled it properly, the six-step process that Tillie had taught me. She had said, "You must think of these six steps not as preparation for the beginning but as the beginning itself." I knew then that I had started my B&B. I let my pen drink up a whole plunger of ink and then holding the pen over the bottle, I squeezed three drops back into the bottle.

And I thought- a B&B letter is giving just a few drops back to the bottle. I put away the tiny notepad and took out a full sheet of calligraphy paper and began,

Dear Grandma Sadie and Grandpa Nate,
Thank you for a vacation that was out of this world...