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

AN ASIDE, just a short one, on the subject of the practical value of literature. I think that I supposed I had discovered one of the functions of literature: to show us how to behave under unusual circumstances. Since I was still at an age when most circumstances seemed unusual to me, I was grateful for all the help I could get, . . . Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experience...

     What I recalled seeing was the painting that Andy had been working on for the last month or so, but the view I had gotten was much different from any I’d had before. . . . Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy at peterleroy.substack.com/subscribe

“I’M HUNGRY,” said Martha one night. She sat up in bed suddenly, interrupting what I was doing to her. Margot also sat up suddenly, interrupting what I was doing to her , and said, “Me, too.” Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy at peterleroy.substack.com/subscribe

IT BECAME MY HABIT, on Saturday mornings, after spending the night in the twins’ bed, to climb back down the ladder, scamper to the ground outside the courtyard wall, and slink around to the front door, in a crouch, staying below the windows. . . . Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy at peterleroy.substack.com/subscribe

     For years—primarily, but not exclusively, my childhood years—I supposed that there was a clear demarcation between fantasy and reality, something like the edge of the sidewalk at the margin of the park we called Paradise. . . . Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy at peterleroy.substack.com/subscribe

FOR THE NEXT FEW MONTHS, life was a fantasy. Nearly every Friday I would go to the Fine Arts Theater with the girls. There I would eat éclairs and practice drinking my coffee black, the three of us sitting at a little table in a corner of the lobby, chatting like young flâneurs . Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy at peterleroy.substack.c...

     I began to twitch. The muscles in my thighs and lips and eyelids began to ripple and flutter. I am, of course, looking at that morning through older eyes, but it seems to me that even then, . . . Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy at peterleroy.substack.com/subscribe

     “Time to get up,” said Margot. “Our Father loves his breakfast,” said Martha, “and he loves to have his women around him while he eats.” . . . Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy at peterleroy.substack.com/subscribe

THE NEXT MORNING, I woke early. This was unusual, since I was, in those days, a heavy sleeper. At home, I slept as late as I could, and when I finally did wake up, or when my mother woke me with a shout up the stairs, I lingered lazily in bed for a while longer, trying to recapture and recapitulate my dreams, . . . Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of...

AT THE TOP of the ladder, at the windowsill, I hesitated, waiting for my eyes to adjust. Their room was darker than the night outside, and there seemed to be a mist within it thicker than the fog.     “Come here, Peter,” said Martha, whispering.  Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy at peterleroy.substack.com/subscribe

WHAT DO I REMEMBER after that? Since I was so happily in a daze, I went where I was led. I have to be careful here not to fill the night with details from later memories, for I was to follow this route many, many times with the girls, . . . Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy at peterleroy.substack.com/subscribe

AFTER ANOTHER BLOCK, we were out of the business district. We walked another quarter mile or so, past a few houses that held the offices of lawyers and dentists, over a creek and past a canal, and came to a small piece of public land on the left side of the street. I hesitate to call it a park, . . . Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy at...

     The car doors opened, and a couple got out, apparently on their way into the bar. I caught the surprised look on the face of the man, . . . Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy at peterleroy.substack.com/subscribe

“THEY’RE GONE,” said Margot in an elaborate stage whisper. “Good,” said Martha. Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy at peterleroy.substack.com/subscribe

I’m not posting today. It’s my birthday. Louis Jordan and His Tympany Five are sending me birthday wishes in the form of the “Happy Birthday Boogie.” Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy at peterleroy.substack.com/subscribe

IF THINGS HAD BEEN just a little different—if the Glynn twins had been younger, or if all of us had been several years older, if we had understood more, or less, of the world, we would have left the theater and walked along Main Street under the movie’s melancholy spell, . . . Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy at peterleroy.substack.com/...

     A shabby, shadowy garret. Rocky let himself in through the window, and once he was in the garret with the women, the whole tone of the movie changed. Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy at peterleroy.substack.com/subscribe

     The rain-washed square. Of course, a car came around the corner. The girls stiffened when the light from its headlights washed over the wet cobblestones, but Rocky staggered on, laughing, and singing some song in French.  Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy at peterleroy.substack.com/subscribe

     I’ll fast-forward now to a point near the end of the film, after everyone in the troupe but Rocky, Lulu, and Lola had been captured or killed.  . . . Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy at peterleroy.substack.com/subscribe

     The stadium, inside. The size of the crowd strained belief. It seemed to be composed of thousands of identical men—lean, eager, easily led. A stage at one end of the stadium. A small man, tending to fat, mounted the podium and stepped up to the lectern, where several radio microphones were attached. . . . Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter...

THE THEATER was small and dank. We stuck together, an uncertain little trio, trying to hide our uncertainty, . . . Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy at peterleroy.substack.com/subscribe

I SHUFFLED ALONG with the line. Silently I rehearsed saying “Three, under twelve,” so that I wouldn’t screw up when my turn came. . . . Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy at peterleroy.substack.com/subscribe

AN ASIDE, on the Babbington dialect. When we got to the theater, Margot and Martha sent me to wait on line, while they hung out at the curb, talking with their friends. I did not learn until years later that not everyone waits “on” line, that some people wait “in” line. . . . Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy at peterleroy.substack.com/s...

     Like a photographic print in a developing bath in a darkroom, my understanding of some of the things Rosetta told me developed slowly as the seasons came around again to early fall. Two impressions stood out from all the others: . . . Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy at peterleroy.substack.com/subscribe

NEARLY A YEAR PASSED. Over the course of that year’s Saturday visits to the Glynns, a year of drawing lessons and contest entries, I got to know Andy and Rosetta. I learned quite a lot about their remarkable lives, . . . Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy at peterleroy.substack.com/subscribe