March 7, 2009

Dear Sis~
Two guards from F.S.P. were killed yesterday and two other guards critically injured in a domestic imbroglio turned violent. Between the scetchy news reports and the scuttlebutt among the guards here (it's all they're talking about) it appears that a male and female guard were romantically involved, but the guy believed she was cheating on the side. He attacked her, stabbing her repeatedly, then fled in a car, whereupon he slammed into a state vehicle carrying two other guards. The assailant was killed, as was a guard in the second vehicle. His companion and the female are in critial condition. A guard on my floor told me "I know the guy who did it; he was a really nice guy, you never would have guessed he'd do that." Love is like that, it can make some people lose their minds just long enough to own a lifetime of regrets ...
I'm reading Moby Dick which, I'm embarrassed to say, I've never read. There are a lot of literary classics which I've never managed to read, but I knock them out as I'm able to track them down from time to time. I also have a new copy of David Copperfield, which I've been anticipating, but now it's sort of been spoiled because I recently watched an excellent 3-hour version on PBS's Masterpiece Classics. The acting was terrific, as were the characters; Dickens was a great story teller ...
Right now, I'm listening to Prairie Home Companion on my little radio, as I do every Saturday evening. What a talented guy Garrison Keillor is! I've been listening to him for at least 25 years and he never empties that deep well of talent. His shows, with their skits, songs, poems and comedy, are the epitome of American culture; if someone wans to see what real America is all about, just listen to one of his shows. Tonight he had a band playing big band swing music and every time I hear a wailing clarinet I think about Dad and how he played his way across Europe in the years before the war, before Hitler made him trade in his clarinet for a rifle. Those were the days of wine and roses.
Love, Bill