I live in Florida. Florida where the annual rainfall is 52 inches. Where we get rain roughly 126 days of the year. Because I live in a suburb and work downtown I spend a fair amount of time every day on the road. The radio doesn't hold much appeal to me. The same songs on different stations repeated over and over again with the same commercials and same-sounding DJ's. So I spend my time on the road listening to books. When my family and I go on road trips we plan ahead and get a few audio books the whole family can listen to. What's nice is not only are we entertained, but we also have something to talk about at meals. This is especially helpful with teenagers.
It's been a little wet this summer. First we were drenched by tropical storm Beryl. Then we were hit head on by hurricane Debbie. Hurricane Isaac is the latest to bring wind and rain. Lots and lots of rain. While Isaac is 500 miles to the west of us the storm is big enough that the outer bands are inundating us with squalls and rain dumps. And when we are not being targeted by tropical storms and hurricanes, the typical late afternoon storms meander across dumping rain all through rush hour. What's worse is this continues through most weekends. And what gives Mother Nature maniacal pleasure is the oppressive post-storm heat and mugginess.
Now you may wonder what the weather has to do with the bucket list. Let me share a story with you. Yesterday afternoon, around 5:00 PM, an outer band of Hurricane Isaac swept through town. It was a fast moving band. It moved about 10 miles in the span of 10 minutes. Rain was falling in sheets, and the wind was so strong it was pushing the rain such that it was almost parallel to the ground. At one point I was watching the wind pushing the rain into the adjacent building. The rain shot up 30 feet above the building and then sheered off to continue its mad dash to who knows where. As soon as the worst of the storm passed I hightailed it to my car, umbrella threatening to collapse. It was a challenge opening then closing the car door, the wind was so strong.
Now it is roughly 5:20 PM. I am leaving the parking garage and joining the many other vehicles in the mass exodus. On a normal day it takes me roughly 30 minutes to get home (about 17 miles). Yesterday was, shall we say, a bit slower. To put it in terms of an audio book, I listened to 2 CDs of a 7 CD unabridged book. Keeping in mind that a CD generally holds anywhere between 45 and 75 minutes of data, that means my travel time was between 1.75 and 2.50 hours. I'll spare you the effort. I was on the road for 2 hours. Two Hours!!! At its worst I moved 50 feet in 20 minutes. But I finally made it home at 7:20.
Why were the road virtual parking lots? There was no flooding. The 2 accidents I passed were mere fender benders. I listened to the traffic reports and nothing was reported anywhere near my route home. The only thing I can think of is the vast majority of downtown was of the same mind; leave while there is a break in the rain.
And the only thing that saved my sanity on the drive home was Death On the Nile, by Agatha Christie. I've never read an Agatha Christie book. It's been interesting. I can see why she is revered for her writing. As a neophyte Agatha Christie reader I have to say she is most excellent in character studies. I'm not sure whether it is her writing style or the writing style of the time, but the establishment of the different characters, their backgrounds, motivations and all was a good lead-in to the crime. It is like the reader is sitting in the co-pilot's seat with Hercule Poirot as the pilot. As Hercule Poirot goes about analyzing means and motives, you too are doing so. The question is whether you will come to the same conclusion as Hercule Poirot; and whether you will do so before he does.
In 1978 and 1979 there was a mystery program on TV called the Ellery Queen Mysteries. It was based on the books written by Frederic Dannay and Manfred Bennington. It was unique in its premise in that in each program you saw a murder and, along with Ellery Queen, were given the clues as to means, motive and murderer. Then at the end Ellery Queen revealed all. It came on Sunday night, and dad, mom, sister and I would watch it together. Then before the big reveal we would each share our conclusion. It was like the board game Clue, and when Ellery Queen did the big reveal, whoever in the family was right won bragging rights for the week.
Listening to Death On the Nile is like watching Ellery Queen Mysteries. You are given all the information you need to determine means, motive and murderer. But are you astute enough to win bragging rights?
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