Under the Dome, the Walking Stick Edition

My oldest sister Barb was one of the biggest Stephen King fans you've ever met. She bought, and read, every single Stephen King book ever written, most of them in hardback. She was known, when she had a good book, to stay up all night reading it. Yes, she was passionate about books, a love we both shared.

When I went down to Barb's house on Saturday to take away some things she left behind, of course, I (as heir to the throne in my family, at least as far as Stephen King stuff goes, anyway) ended up with three boxes of Stephen King books.

I already have a substantial collection of Stephen King's books of my own. Guess who bought me a lot of them. Yes, my big sister. So I went through the three boxes on Sunday, and compared them to my list. I kept the ones I did not already own, and I plan to donate the rest to a good cause; something she would approve of.

As I strolled into the garage to grab the first box of books, to sort it, who did I find atop one of the books but a pretty little walking stick! I took the cool bug, on the book it had apparently been reading (Under the Dome), out to the front porch.

There I photographed it walking around on the book. Then I carefully released it onto one of the branches of rhododendron by the porch. (Mr. King, I do not think you will ever see this, but if you do, I hope this story makes you laugh! And I want to thank you for the joy you brought my sister Barb - and me - with your stories.)

I do not know if the stick was some kind of messenger; if there was a message to be had, it certainly escapes me. But we did enjoy our little interlude together, and so perhaps the tiny messenger's only reminder was this: to laugh when you can, and enjoy whatever the moment brings!

Here is a thing I am not sure this tiny reader would be quite so good at: Bob Seger, with Turn the Page. I'm also including a pretty impressive cover version by Metallica.