Scandalous Notes

Lillian Hellman shares a birthday with me, except I think she’s about six decades ahead. She is most famous for her play, THE CHILDREN’S HOUR, and had a scandalous affair with Dashiell Hammett, author of THE MALTESE FALCON and other manly adventures. It was all very hyper-sensual I’m sure. It was all before my time.

Today I shall be serene and calm, but not until much later. Today I have to chaperon a Fourth Grade class field trip. If there is a merciful God, He will put off His jests towards me, and I will NOT have to ride the school bus with the children. Despite the price of fuel, my sanity is more valuable than gas, I hope. This chaperoning is my good deed for the day, that is my comfort. I don’t have to seek for any other good deeds beyond this one. I have strong plans for a VERY cold beverage immediately upon my return home, and no further hopes of accomplishment.

I stayed up last night entirely too late watching a good movie: NOTES ON A SCANDAL. It almost made me want to read the book, but not quite. The story-telling in the movie is well done, with tension paced throughout this tale of schoolyard misconduct. Each new moment brings another small twist that knits into a terrible knot of deception and heartbreak. Besides, nothing is going to portray the characters better than the performances of Dame Judi Dench and Cate Blanchett. Blanchett can portray on her face pages of emotion, and Dench can move with her eyes an hour’s worth of anxiety. The book, I fear, would only remind me of the movie.

Whatever I suffer, I suffer. It will not be endless. I took two aspirin in case I do have to ride the bus. In a few hours, it will all be over. It will be a mild inconvenience, not near so enduring as a scandal.