The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy

THAT NIGHT I read “Photographic Proof,” episode eleven of Dead Air , to a sizable Friday-night crowd (sizable, that is, for the time of year). . . . Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy at peterleroy.substack.com/subscribe

“JEFFREY the realtor called to say that he’s bringing some prospects on Sunday,” Albertine said, “and he asked me whether we could do anything about the wildlife.” Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy at peterleroy.substack.com/subscribe

I AWOKE feeling much better, even optimistic. I had slept the night through for the first time in weeks. . . . Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy at peterleroy.substack.com/subscribe

“IS IT OKAY if I ask a question?” asked Alice. “Sure,” I said. “Questions are encouraged.” “Two questions, really.” “Okay.” “Was there a clam salad sandwich?” Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy at peterleroy.substack.com/subscribe

THERE WERE NINE at my reading of episode ten of Dead Air, “Kap’n Klam’s Salad Sandwich,” since the tinkers made it off the roof safely and stayed to hear what I had to say, and Suki joined the group, too. Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy at peterleroy.substack.com/subscribe

I SPENT THE DAY going around the hotel touching up the paint where leaks had stained the ceilings and in the thousand little places where the walls had taken a beating, and for quite a while I felt content, almost elated. Painting does that to me. . . . Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy at peterleroy.substack.com/subscribe

LOU LINED SIX COCKTAIL GLASSES along the bar and filled them from a shaker. “Okay,” he said, “now if you don’t like this drink I want you please to at least give the appearance of enjoying it. . . . Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy at peterleroy.substack.com/subscribe

THERE WERE SIX in my audience for the reading of the ninth episode from Dead Air, “The Wall of Happy Diners.” Elaine had returned, and she had brought with her a gray and cuddly couple, Alice and Clark, longtime friends of Lou’s. . . . Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy at peterleroy.substack.com/subscribe

THIS WAS THE DAY of the funeral of the Big Tinker. The morning was gray, as it ought to be for a funeral. Clouds lay heavy over Babbington . . . Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy at peterleroy.substack.com/subscribe

“LET’S OFFER A BONUS,” she said when we were in bed, “payable to the individual realtor who sells the place. Maybe it will get them to start bringing more people out here.” . . . Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy at peterleroy.substack.com/subscribe

I TRIED NOT TO BE GLOOMY during dinner, and I think I succeeded, but by reading time I was exhausted. I felt old, finished. Everything had come to nothing, that was the feeling. . . . Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy at peterleroy.substack.com/subscribe

I TOOK MY COFFEE to my workroom and shut the door. Standing at the window, I reread the letter from Preston and Douglas announcing the cancellation of the Larry Peters series. As I read, I had the oddest sensation . . . Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy at peterleroy.substack.com/subscribe

LYING IN BED that night, awake, I found that I was afraid of moving to Foggy Cove. . . . Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy at peterleroy.substack.com/subscribe

WHEN I WAS A BOY, there was quite a lot of interest in flying saucers. . . . Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy at peterleroy.substack.com/subscribe

AT MY USUAL EARLY HOUR I sat at the computer to do some work on the passage that I would be reading in the evening, but it was Albertine who wrote: . . . Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy at peterleroy.substack.com/subscribe

MY LITTLE AUDIENCE was receptive, even appreciative, . . . Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy at peterleroy.substack.com/subscribe

ALBERTINE and I had the dining room to ourselves that night. After dinner, I built a fire in the lounge, poured the last of the cognac for us, and began reading the sixth episode of Dead Air, “Flying Saucers: The Untold Story,” to an audience of one. Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy at peterleroy.substack.com/subscribe

EARLY IN THE MORNING, I ferried our three guests back to the mainland. Dick and Jane sat in the bow with their arms around each other for the whole trip. They had told Albertine, while they were checking out, that their stay at Small’s had “really meant something,” . . . Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy at peterleroy.substack.com/subscr...

AS SOON AS we were under the covers, Albertine said, “The boiler is on its last legs.” “What happened to ‘Good night, my darling, I love you a zillion’?” I asked. “It’s the scale.” “Okay, a billion. I can understand that we’ve got to cut back — ” . . . Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy at peterleroy.substack.com/subscribe

AFTER DINNER, in the lounge, Lou stood the entire crowd of eight to a round of drinks from our well-stocked bar, and I read episode five of Dead Air, “A Case of the Family Illness.” Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy at peterleroy.substack.com/subscribe

ALBERTINE generally spends an hour or so reading in bed after she wakes up, then gets out of bed, pulls her workout wear on, runs seven circuits of the island, lifts her weights, showers, eats a light breakfast . . . Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy at peterleroy.substack.com/subscribe

THERE WAS APPLAUSE. It was Friday night, and the crowd — oh, let’s call it a crowd even if it was a very small crowd — was in a Friday-night mood. Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy at peterleroy.substack.com/subscribe

AMONG MY TUTORS when I was a boy were three who almost certainly never thought of me as their pupil. They were a nondescript man who lived around the corner (or, perhaps, across the street, or on the next block), his wife, and a ventriloquist’s dummy. Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy at peterleroy.substack.com/subscribe

MORNING CREPT IN like a guilty drunk. Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy at peterleroy.substack.com/subscribe

“BALDY THE DUMMY is still on the air,” I remarked later, at the bar, where Lou was again playing bartender. “I tune him in sometimes late at night when I can’t sleep.” “Really?” asked Jane. . . . Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy at peterleroy.substack.com/subscribe