Tomorrow's Mockingjay

I am visiting my sister's place on Long Island, celebrating Thanksgiving Day. I have passed a year without drinking, which is on a level of good that I will not describe here. I had a wonderful family gathering with eleven of us at table --not so easy to capture in a photograph because of the small room and hectic activity.

This is my niece Clare (10), holding the stuffed mushrooms. She's a naturally intelligent kid, and I see her becoming a full-on genius during life if things go well. As it is, her branch of the family faces some challenges but they've been resilient. Today I learned that she had begun reading The Hunger Games at school and liked it, but she stopped in the middle for lack of her own copy at the end of a term. This gives me a chance to be useful as an uncle, for a change. I found the books to be of stellar quality, and thrilling for being a current piece of youth culture. An unexpected Anarchist classic, no less.

Good old Uncle Bobby will send a copy on the promise that he'll get a message about what Clare thinks of Katniss's terrifying battles and heroic deeds. I'm on it!