Chet The Dog

Posts Tagged ‘Hawaiian pants’

Beginnings (Not)

On Sunday we usually do beginnings, taking a look at the start of a Peter Abrahams novel, including those written under the Spencer Quinn moniker. But today – something a little different. For the reading part of the events on the virtual tour for Of Mutts And Men, we’ve been throwing caution to the winds (what with life otherwise so cautious for so many these days) and opening the book at random! Here’s where we ended up last night at our fun visit to Book Carnival in Orange County, one of our faves.

We came to the street with all the self-storage places, one big garage-like building after another, all of them with many doors. Bernie parked in front of our door, pressed a button on his phone. The door slid up. Humans have lots of tricks like that. Does it make things more fun for them? I took a glance at him. He didn’t seem to be having fun. We went inside and did something we hadn’t done in a long time, namely check out our Hawaiian pants.

Racks of hanging Hawaiian pants. Shelves of folded Hawaiian pants. Boxes of boxed-up Hawaiian pants, stacked floor to ceiling. A beam of light came through a small high-up side window, a light beam full of swirling dust. We walked to the back where a stool stood against the wall, a single pair of Hawaiian pants draped on top, the legs slumping down to the floor. Bernie picked them up and held them against his body, like he was thinking of trying them on. Try them on, Bernie, try them on! They’ll look great!

But he did not. Instead he folded them very carefully and was about to put them back when he noticed an open pack of cigarettes lying on the stool.

“Hey,” he said, the first word he’d spoken in some time. Moments later, he was sitting on the stool, lighting up, taking that first drag, letting it out with a long, slow breath. “Pot of gold,” he said. Someone else had said that very thing and not long ago. I came very close to remembering who. Chet the Jet, on fire! Or at least heating up. Smoke rose into the light beam and mixed with the dust motes up in the golden air. There’s all kinds of beauty in life.

Bernie took another drag. “There’s what you can control and what you can’t,” he said. “Which everybody knows. There’s also what you think you can control but can’t, which some people know. But what about the things you think you can’t control but actually can? See where I’m heading with this?”

At first I did not but then from out of nowhere it came to me. We were going to burn our self-storage to the ground, let all the Hawaiian pants go up in smoke! Wow! What a brilliant idea! I did a fast trot to the door and back, just letting Bernie know I totally on board.

Hawaiian Pants!

Yes, actual Hawaiian pants (one of Bernie’s brainwaves) appeared on the recent book tour!

Random Amazon Review We Like

Hawaiian Pants!

And more! (hat tip Katherine Ann)

Bernie’s dream comes true!