Books: A Constant in All My Lives

Good morning, all!

It's Friday, the loveliest of all days, with all the possibilities of the weekend stretched out before us. Any plans?

I'm going to be doing quite a bit of singing and dancing. Which is pretty much my normal weekend plan, regardless of what else is going on in life. But this weekend it's going to be a little bit more formalized.

I'm currently in the ensemble of a production of All Shook Up. First musical I've done since 2006 and it's fantastic. (For all of you who don't know the show, it's based off of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night and the score is made up entirely of Elvis songs.)

Well, our director very much believes that everyone on stage should have a backstory even if they are not main characters. To that end, he had each of us write one up and share them with the cast so that he would have a better jumping off point for how he wanted to block us and who should be spending the most stage time with who.

Here's mine:

Name: Margaret “Peggy” Lennox

Age: 26

Job:

Peggy has worked as a librarian in the town library for three years, since moving back to her hometown. Once a week, Mayor Hyde performs an inspection of the literary works available, never failing to add more to the town’s extensive banned books list. Once the Mayor has deemed a book to be inappropriate for public consumption, Peggy dutifully takes it off the shelf, promises to set it aflame, and then proceeds to hide it under her bead. She’s running out of room, but thinks there may be a way to reorganize her closet to fit next week’s haul.

Relationship Status:

Single. She was once engaged, but her fiancé broke things off without any explanation. This was a contributing factor to Peggy’s decision to move back to her hometown after her grandmother’s death.

History:

Peggy was born and raised in this small town. However, when the U.S. joined the fight in World War II, both Peggy’s parents felt it their duty to offer their talents to the war efforts. Peggy and her older brother were sent to live their maternal grandmother in Checotah, Oklahoma. Neither parent survived the war. Serving as a WAC in North Africa, Katherine Lennox succumbed to an outbreak of malaria in 1943. Daniel Lennox, a medic in the 42^nd Field Hospital, was killed during an air raid a few days before the Battle of the Bulge.

Peggy continued living with her grandmother, eventually becoming a librarian. When her grandmother passed away, rather than moving to Topeka, Kansa, where older her brother and his family live, Peggy opted to return to her hometown. Her happiest memories were here. Of course, the town has changed quite a bit over the years.

She rents a small attic space from an older couple, Bill and Susan Sanders, who remember her family. Due to this connection they asked only for $20 a month in rent and that she cook dinner on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Having now been there for three years, Peggy finds herself eating with them more nights than not and has taken to assisting in the upkeep of the house. They’ve become close over time, though Peggy doesn’t agree with Bill’s opinion that the town has improved under Mayor Hyde. As a result, she keeps her book rescue project a secret from them. She has, however, confided in two friends, Lily and Virginia. They were close as children, before her family moved away and reconnected as soon as she returned. Now they hold a scheduled Banned Bookclub Meeting once a month.

Overall, she’s content, but hasn’t quite succeeded in achieving the happiness she was looking for when she returned. Something’s still missing. She just can’t quite put her finger on what.

Likes:

-          Films (though she has to go a couple towns over to see any fun ones), particularly any with Marlon Brando or Gene Kelly.

-          Going to the high school football games. Doesn’t really care too much about the sport, but it’s one of the few places it’s okay to yell in public.

-          Silly putty. Finds it fun showing kids how to make the words from books appear on the putty when the mayor’s not around to see.

-          Hula hoops, but don’t tell anyone because they’re not allowed in town.

Dislikes:

-          Birdwatching. Susan loves it, so Peggy has spent many an afternoon looking at birds. It makes her want to scream.

-          Knitting. Doesn’t matter how many time’s she’s tried, she just can’t work the needles.

-          Horses. Peggy broke her leg once while riding with her brother. Now she won’t go near the animals.

-          Pickles.

Seems that even in my fictional lives, I just can't shake the book obsession.